Saturday, May 07, 2016

Sandakan Heritage Trail: St. Michael and the Parish of All Angels' church


Today I just wanna share some travel photos dated back to last October.

Before we embarked the flight back to KL, we were given some time to visit Sandakan heritage building or they called it Sandakan Heritage Trail.

I will share one by one in the coming post.

Located on Elton Hill in the heart of Sandakan town, St. Michael and the Parish of All Angels' church is the oldest stone building in Sabah.

The construction of the building was initiated by Rev. W.H. Elton in 1888 and took him almost 13 years to complete.

It was designed by New Zealander Mr. B.W. Mountfort who designed the church based on Christchurch Cathedral in New Zealand, which was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake.

The building was first constructed with belian (ironwood) timber, followed by brick and finally stone, which is said to have from the nearby Buli Sim Sim, while the white stones that adorn the windows and doors are from Hong Kong.

The stones were delivered from Buli Sim Sim by prison labour at RM1.25 per cubic yard.

A cubic foot of stone weighs approximately 140 lbs and each stone was painstakingly laid atop each other.

A severe shock of earthquake shook Sandakan on 21st Sept 1897 but no damage to the stone walls of the church.

The construction work continued with significant progress each year and finally it was completed in 1906.

In 30th Sept. 1906, the church of St. Michael was dedicated.

Rev. Elton continued as the Rector until 1914 where he went back to England and passed away on 17th Dec 1914.(source:http://stmicsdk.com/about-us-2/)

St. Michael and the Parish of All Angels' church is located behind St. Michael school.

Knowing more about the past teach us to be grateful of what we have.

The board at the school there clearly shows the changes of the school building over the year since it founded by Rev. W.H. Elton.

My adopted dad said: " Look at there (monument), take photos of it!" after showing me the board at the school.

This monument was constructed in memory of Rev. Thomas Cecil Alexander for the founding of Scout Movement of North Borneo (Sabah) in 1913.

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