Saturday, October 31, 2009

Old Big Mansion Kinarut




We did not find any landmark of this nature which looks like a fort and which could have been used as a fort by the early British settlers who had been trying to fight the pirates and the rebellion at Marudu led by Shariff Rom Osman. Could this had been a garrison as it was told by the Village Head of Kg Sharif Osman, En Enjin that the British armada led by Brooke bombarded Marudu from Mantanani Island, an island off Kota Belud.Muzium Sabah had two cannons found at Marudu in their safe keeping.

Fort Margareta in Kuching would have been to far away to provide the necessary logistics and support for the British armada and a place closer to Marudu, like the Old Big Mansion at Kinarut would be the most appropriate location, more so as it provided a good view of the seas as well as the deep and wide river for boats and even ships to come in and took shelter. More research had to be done on this place and there are not other ports that we can find in Sabah except for this site and that of Tenom which was formerly known as Port Birch (could be Fort Birch) as port was not normally built in the river banks but the sea.

This old Big Mansion at Kinarut Papar is now called the Panorama View Muzium by its owner the Sabah Muzium. It was said to have been built by some foreigners but did not mention who they were. What I gather was that this place had been used as a prison.