Date: 28 June,
2013 (Friday)
After 40mins, we reached Kundasang
town at 1pm and headed to the nearby War Memorial.
4th
stop: Kundasang War Memorial.
At the memorial gate, each of us
paid RM2 for the entry.
“Major G. S. Carter, D.S.O. (Toby Carter) a New Zealander employed with Shell Oil Co. (Borneo) initiated the building of the Memorial in 1962, together with the launching of Kinabalu Park; to commemorate the 2,428 Australian and British prisoners who died during World War IIat the Sandakan POW Camp, and the casualties of the three infamous forced death marches from Sandakan to Ranau. It also serves as a tribute to the many local people who risked their lives while aiding the prisoners of war. Only six Australians survived in this tragedy to tell their horror and there were no English survivors.
It has four interlocking but separate gardens to represent the homelands of those who died: an Australian Garden, a formal English Garden of roses, a Borneo Garden with wild flowers of Kinabalu and at the top level is the 'Contemplation Garden' with a reflection pool and pergola.” – Wikipedia.
The walk up to the memorial is very serene. The location is very strategic at the small hill with the winds blowing slowly. On top, there is a small booth where the clippings, signs, photos of the history of the memorial. There is also a small shop, a café and Australian Memorial Hall to enable visitors to view WW2 Documentary Films for another small fee.
As stated, there are 4 gardens. Each garden was maintained regularly. The first garden u’ll find when u climbed up the stairs is the Australian Garden. Further climbed up is the English Garden. Behind the English Garden is the Borneo Garden and finally the Contemplation Garden. At the Contemplation garden, there are rows of plague will the names of the POWs who died during the dead marches. U can walk along the pergola or towards behind the garden to get a breath-taking view with Mount Kinabalu as the background.
It has four interlocking but separate gardens to represent the homelands of those who died: an Australian Garden, a formal English Garden of roses, a Borneo Garden with wild flowers of Kinabalu and at the top level is the 'Contemplation Garden' with a reflection pool and pergola.” – Wikipedia.
The walk up to the memorial is very serene. The location is very strategic at the small hill with the winds blowing slowly. On top, there is a small booth where the clippings, signs, photos of the history of the memorial. There is also a small shop, a café and Australian Memorial Hall to enable visitors to view WW2 Documentary Films for another small fee.
As stated, there are 4 gardens. Each garden was maintained regularly. The first garden u’ll find when u climbed up the stairs is the Australian Garden. Further climbed up is the English Garden. Behind the English Garden is the Borneo Garden and finally the Contemplation Garden. At the Contemplation garden, there are rows of plague will the names of the POWs who died during the dead marches. U can walk along the pergola or towards behind the garden to get a breath-taking view with Mount Kinabalu as the background.
We spent about an hour there and
decided to ‘tapau’ KFC for dinner
using the coupons we received from the petrol station in KK.
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