'New role for Fort MargheritaBY HARUN JAU

KUCHING: Fort Margherita,

which is now under renovation, will be turned into it Brooke Gallery Museum, revealed Minister of Tourism Uatuk Amar Abang I laji Johari Tun Openg.

He said a contractor had been

appointed to do the renova tion works which should he corn pleted by the end of the year.

"Apparently, we have to get a contractor who knows the objet tives of the renovation because

there are certain aspects of the gallery that should be consid- ered.

"Bv the end of the year, it (reno

vation) should be completed, " he

i11

told reporters after witnessing the signing of it Memorandum of Understanding (Mo(l) between

1-Systems College Kuching and Milton Kuching on Diploma in Hotel Management Programme,

at Hilton Kuching here, yester- day.

According to Johari, Jason Brooke, the grandson of Anthony Brooke had agreed to loan or give all personal records -he important documents as well as personal memorabilia of the Brookes to be exhibited at the Brooke Gallery.

"Since Fort Margherita is more towards the Brooke's family, ac- tually the name itself is also from the Brooke, we will exhibit all Oceir personal, historical documents as well as their other belongings at the gallery, " he said.

DATUK Amy Al3ny iuM .. o R ý ý anmygmg of MoU documents bet"t Ln uel eri hl. rdger of Huwn

Kuching Jon Warmington (left) and I-Systems Colleges CEO Dato' John Tiong (right) after the signing ceremony. PnOTO RAMIDI SUBARI

lie added that the Sar_vv i. Museum Department had a col lection of exhihits and histt..: artefacts of th, Brookes, but not as much as in collection of the Brooke's tamilv'.

"According to Jason Brooke, the lainily has it lot of collections. " he said, adding that the state would discuss with the Brooke family on how long the state could keep the exhibits items.

Iohari said h. w: z , sure how much wou-' !! ii; ly he

)-nt on the renovitr .!; the renovation works coil : )st it few

million riuggit. "It is not really +. n : rs v:

renovation because it is , i het nage building and must be kept intact

as it is. But what we will do is to renovate the interior as the gallery must be presentably as well as able to pi serve dor uments.

"It the environment is not good, it might : poil old documents, " he said, adring that these historical aspe(c would become tourist attraction.

lohari also disclosed that the state was planning to tui ; . 'he `Wallace's building near Ratu Buaya in Santuhong into a tour- ist attraction, especially among scientists h, 'cause Wallace and Charles Darwin had role in the

theory of evolution. "The Wallace's Trail and

Wallace's building in Santubong are also important historical sites that we are looking into, " he said.

"Apparently, a lot of our his- torical documents are kept in the British Museum. We are sending our representatives from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) there to work out some collaboration with the British Museum to get the historical documents.

That was why the other day I went to Oxford to set the momen- tum of collaboration moving, " he said.

Johari encouraged members of the public who have in their pri- vate collections artefacts related to the Brooke era to have them exhibited at the Brooke Gallery.

"If they are willing to exhib- it them, why not! " he said in response to a question from the nedia.

According to Johari, there are certain documents and historical facts about the trial of Rosh Dhobi kept in the archive of the British Museum.

When asked if there was any effort to get them back, he said, "It is not easy to retrieve such docu ments from the British Museum, but we are looking into it.

"We have to work together and collaborate with the British Museum to retrieve them. If we cannot get the original, then we have to get certified copies and that should be good enough, " hc said.

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