War memory
A Second World War POW camp.
CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Enziee — CC BY 4.0 · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0
A quiet park among towering trees, laid out on the ground of the Sandakan prisoner-of-war camp that the Japanese set up in the Second World War, where some 2,500 Australian and British prisoners were held and forced to build a military airfield. Only six survived: most died in the camp or on the forced death marches to Ranau in 1945. The park opened in 1999 through a partnership between the Sabah government and the Australian government, and a circular route leads past six stations, among them an excavator the prisoners sabotaged so that it never worked again, the steam generator that powered the camp, a giant mengaris tree, an interpretive pavilion with photographs and moving testimony, and a memorial obelisk. The park also honours the suffering and sacrifice of Sabah's own people in that war. Entry is free and it opens daily from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon; each year on 15 August it hosts the Sandakan Memorial Day service. It lies near Sandakan airport on the road to Sepilok, so make it a stop on the way back. It is a moving place, so allow an hour and read the pavilion's panels slowly.
A Second World War POW camp.
An excavator and steam generator from captivity.
Tall trees and shaded paths.
On the site of the former prisoner-of-war camp, about 12 km from central Sandakan near the airport
Late in the war the Japanese moved the prisoners on foot through jungle and mountains to Ranau, some 260 kilometres away, and most died on the way from hunger, disease and exhaustion. Only six of the camp's prisoners survived, all of them escapees.