Qualla: North Borneo War Monument

North Borneo War Monument: Introduction

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. At ten o'clock on the morning of 8 May 1923, Major-General Sir Neill Malcolm stepped forward to inaugurate a granite obelisk on Bond Street in Jesselton, British North Borneo. A guard of honor from the Royal Navy stood at attention beside veterans of the Great War and members of the British North Borneo Constabulary. Bishop Danson offered a dedication, with greetings from representatives of the Catholic, Muslim, and Sikh communities. Governor Sir William Rycroft and Admiral Arthur Leveson looked on. The monument was carved with a laurel wreath and the words "To The Glorious Dead 1914-1918." A marble slab listed thirteen names -- the British soldiers of North Borneo who did not come home from the First World War. It was, at the time, a memorial to one war and one empire. A century later, it commemorates three conflicts and three nations' sacrifices, and it is the oldest standing monument in all of Sabah.

Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 3.0

North Borneo War Monument: Thirteen Names on Marble

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chipmunkdavis, CC BY-SA 4.0. The North Borneo Chartered Company erected the monument to honor the 51 British soldiers who died during the First World War. Of those, thirteen names were carved into a marble plaque -- the men with direct ties to the territory. The obelisk itself stood approximately 2.5 meters ...

Image: Chipmunkdavis | CC BY-SA 4.0

North Borneo War Monument: Layers of Loss

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chipmunkdavis, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Second World War brought a new burden of commemoration. After the fighting ended, a bronze plaque was added to the opposite side of the obelisk, honoring 61 Australian soldiers who died in the conflict -- many of them victims of the brutal Sandakan death marches and prisoner-...

Image: Chipmunkdavis | CC BY-SA 4.0

North Borneo War Monument: A Monument in Motion

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pangalau, CC BY-SA 4.0. The obelisk has never stayed in one place for long. Originally erected on Bond Street, it was later moved to Jalan Pantai, formerly named Neil Malcolm Street after the man who inaugurated it. When the Kota Kinabalu City Park was redesigned in the 1970s, the monument was relocated...

Image: Pangalau | CC BY-SA 4.0