Sandakan
The Town The Death Marches Started From Around Two And A Half Thousand Prisoners Driven Inland In 1945, Of Whom Six Survived · Sandakan, Sabah
IN 1945 AROUND TWO AND A HALF THOUSAND AUSTRALIAN AND BRITISH PRISONERS WERE DRIVEN INLAND FROM A CAMP AT SANDAKAN TOWARDS RANAU, ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY KILOMETRES THROUGH JUNGLE. SIX SURVIVED - all Australians, all of whom escaped. It is among the worst atrocities of the Pacific war and outside Australia almost nobody has heard of it. SANDAKAN MEMORIAL PARK STANDS ON THE CAMP SITE, quiet and green, with rusting boilers and an excavator still in the ground. THE TOWN ITSELF WAS BOMBED TO NOTHING in the same year and the capital moved to Jesselton afterwards, which is why Kota Kinabalu is the city and this is not. WHAT SURVIVED: ST MICHAEL'S, one of the few stone buildings left standing, and the rebuilt AGNES KEITH HOUSE, home of the American writer whose books made Sabah's name abroad. It is also the gateway to Sepilok and the Kinabatangan. Walk the heritage trail in the morning before the humidity wins, and give the memorial park longer than its size suggests - it is a war grave, not an attraction.
Sandakan, Sabah, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
SANDAKAN HAS AN AIRPORT with flights from Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur, and is the base for SEPILOK (twenty-five minutes) and the KINABATANGAN (two to three hours). SANDAKAN MEMORIAL PARK IS OPEN DAILY AND FREE, with a small interpretive pavilion; it is a war grave site and is treated as one. AGNES KEITH HOUSE keeps daytime hours with a small fee and CLOSES ON SOME PUBLIC HOLIDAYS. ST MICHAEL'S IS AN ACTIVE CHURCH. THE SANDAKAN HERITAGE TRAIL is a marked walking route through the old town taking a couple of hours, including the HUNDRED STEPS. SIM SIM WATER VILLAGE is reached on foot along its own walkway - it is residential, so walk quietly. ANZAC DAY SERVICES are held in April. It is hot and humid; walk in the morning.