Sandakan in July: Part 1 - Kylie Crawley

The following is adapted from Kylie's travelogue: 

Sandakan War Memorial

The flight to Sandakan from KL was about three hours in length. We were quickly able to meet Jude Day who was to be our guide for the next three days on our brief tour of Sabah. Following a beer in the lobby bar of the Sabah Hotel, she drove us to Sandakan Memorial Park. The reason for this stop over was to visit the prisoner of war camp where my great-uncle Keith Hubert Henley was interned by the Japanese from 29th March 1943 until his death from malaria on the 24th April 1945 in Sandakan. He was just 26 years old. In this camp 2,248 prisoners of war were incarcerated, of those who survived about 1200 were marched 260km to Ranau or to their deaths. If they stumbled or fell, the Japanese shot them where they lay. Only 6 men survived these Death Marches, they were all Australians and they survived only because they escaped. 

Window by Philip Handle

In the grounds of the memorial park the remains of the excavator used by the PoW's to build the airport runway can still be seen. It seems that despite the horrendous conditions, the Australians and other prisoners were larrikins until the last; for instance they went to great lengths to bog the excavator in order that the run way would not be completed.
On a more uplifting note, the commemorative pavilion contains magnificent stained glass windows designed by Australian Philip Handle incorporating the flowers of the states of Australia, Borneo and England.



Leaflet about Keith Henley

 After leaving a paper leaflet on the memorial to commemorate my Uncle Pat and remember his ultimate sacrifice we visited St Michael's and All Angels Church where the prisoners spent the night on route to the camp from Singapore. The church had lovely stained glass windows once again designed and constructed by Philip Handle commemorating those who died and praying for everlasting peace.
                     



Canopy Walkway

 We were able to have a sleep on the second morning as Jude did not pick us up until 10:30am to take us to the Rainforest Discovery Centre. Here we saw macaques swinging wildly through the trees, hornbills flying through the skies, huge trees, beautiful flowers and other assorted wildlife. The canopy walk provided great views of the rainforest below although it was so hot I thought we might pass out.

 Our next stop was the Sepilok Orang-Utan Sanctuary. We watched the introductory DVD and then followed the board walk to where the orang-utans are fed. Despite the fact that the rain fell for the entire time we were there we were lucky enough to see 5 orang-utans including a mother and her very new born baby. They were all so cute and oh so human like. There was a very cheeky one that hung above us for ages, occasionally poking his tongue out at us.


Orangutans at Sepilok

Kylie came to Sabah in July 2010, specifically to visit Sandakan.  Part 2 of her story will be up on the blog soon.
If you have any comments or questions, please let me know.  I'd love to hear from you at:  jude@astsabah.com