Learning About Australian War History

---

Geo: 5.84117, 118.113

It didn't take long to get to the Sandakan Memorial Park. Our driver parked and walked us to the entrance. There is no entrance fee here. Here we read the information board, it was a lot of depressing information to take in. This park is a memorial to all the 2500 prisoners of war, mainly Australians and British who died here during the Second World War. The prisoners of war here were made to do hard labour, one of the tasks was to build the nearby Sandakan airport. The pavilion, which is a museum was built by the Australian government in the 90's.

There were a few relics from the war, an excavator, boiler and generator. We walked up the steps to the pavilion. Inside there is a small, but very informative museum. Continuing on the circular route, we came to the memorial obelisk and reflected on its words. This is where the memorial services are held each year. It was a bit eerie in this park, there weren't many people about at all. On our walk we saw only a few other people. We didn't spend very long in here, but it was a very informative and reflective visit.

Our taxi driver now drove us back to our hotel. We popped into our room to freshen up and then went out again. Our first stop was McDonalds for a late lunch. The menu was a bit limited for me being a vegetarian. In the end I had curly fries, pineapple pie with potato & mushroom soup. We then went for a walk through the local market. Here there was a souvenir shop run by two women. We had a little look at the souvenirs and were able to take our time as we were not being hassled to buy, instead we were being photographed by the two women! We were quite irritated by this.

Back in the market we had a walk up and a down a few aisles, recognising some fruit and vegetables among the many that seemed foreign to us. I bought a small bunch of bananas – I haven't yet eaten much fruit on this holiday. A very popular item seemed to be dried, smelly fish. There were many stalls selling this. The dried fish was piled up high. Walking out of the market we were now by the harbour, where there were a couple of fishing boats moored.

We need to visit a supermarket for a few things, so we walked past our hotel into town where we had seen a supermarket yesterday. When we walked past our hotel we noticed a Japanese restaurant and looked at the menu. It was decided that it would be a great place for dinner tonight. As we walked through town we ignored the comments and looks that we were getting from the local men.

The supermarket was pretty big for this small town. It was like a department store and supermarket in one. We needed to buy bottled water, snacks and insect repellent for the next few days. Back at the hotel I took some photos of town. We then went for an afternoon swim. After our swim and relax by the pool we started to pack, as tomorrow we were checking out of this hotel.

We then got ready for dinner. The evening started with cocktails out on the hotel deck. Then we went to the Japanese restaurant for dinner and it was delicious.

---

Photos

01 Death March
A sign with information about the Death March.

02 Plant
A colourful plant with red and green leaves.

03 Boiler
The remains of the boiler.

04 Tropical Flower
A beautiful, orange flower.

05 Tropical Flower
A unique looking flower.

06 Sign
A sign indicating that this is where the prisoners walked on their Death March.

07 Pavilion
Inside the pavilion is a very informative museum.

08 Flags
Flags outside the pavilion - from Malaysia, Australia, Britian and Sabah.

09 Important Words
Important words - history should never be forgotten.

10 Memorial Obelisk
This is where the services are held each year.

11 Memorial
The memorial and its reflective words.

12 Path
The path that we followed around the park.

13 Excavator
This was used to construct the local airport - under Japanese orders.

14 Lake
A lake in the memorial park.

15 Lunch
This was my late lunch at McDonalds - limited vegetarian options, but I made it into a yummy meal.

16 Fishing Boats
Fishing boats at the harbour near the market.

17 Shopping
I am buying bananas at the local market.

18 Dried Fish
All this dried fish was quite smelly.

19 Along the Water
Buildings along the water.

20 Cemetery
A cemetery on a hill.

21 Fishing Boats
A pair of fishing boats as seen from our hotel.