Rumah Agnes Keith | |
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Former name | Newlands |
|---|---|
| Established | 26 April 2004 |
| Location | Sandakan, Sabah |
| Coordinates | 5°50′33.77″N118°06′58.82″E / 5.8427139°N 118.1163389°E |
| Type | Historic house |
| Owner | Sabah Museum |
Agnes Keith House (formerly known as the Newlands) (Malay : Rumah Agnes Keith) is a historic house museum in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia. The museum is named after Agnes Newton Keith, an American author known for her three autobiographical accounts of life in British North Borneo.
A house is already constructed on a hill in the current site of the house as a British colonial government quarters. [1] In 1934, Agnes married Harry Keith, a British official assigned for forest conservation in Sandakan. Harry has provide a house for them and living there together for years but since it has been destroyed through war both choose not to rebuild their house in the former location. After the World War II, the new house was rebuilt between 1946 until 1947 on the hill of a destroyed house and became the first government permanent timber dwelling. [2] [3] The newly rebuilt and more comfortable house on the hill is located on the site of a destroyed house formerly owned by M M Clark where they renaming the new house as Newlands. [1] [4] [5] Agnes lived in the house for several years before the house being owned by another few owners. After being left with no further occupants, the Sabah Museum Department together with Federal Department of Museum and Antiquities began to collaborate in 2001 to restore the house and on 26 April 2004, it was finally opened to public as a museum. [3]
Through her years of living in the house, based on her own writings, Agnes is reportedly happy with the home, although there were some mysterious incidents of note that had happened throughout her stay in the house when Agnes everyday saw a tall unrecognisable female figure apparition. [4] [5] At one event she saw the apparition with family; saying goodbye to husband and taking her own baby before returning to the road in front of the house with body keep moving forward while her head managed to keep straight looking over behind (towards Agnes position). [4] [5]
The same horror experienced earlier by Agnes also felt by the next house owner following Agnes return to the United States; a new female owner named Rosemary (living in the house from 1955 to 1967), the wife of G L Carson while sleeping alone in the house awaken by the sounds of a room door located at the end of the house being closed several times in early dawn and hearing footsteps that getting louder moving towards her room before shockingly saw an unrecognisable female apparition suddenly appeared at the end of her bed with eyes staring at her when she began to open her own eyes that causing her to be quickly fainted. [4] Another incident involving a housemaid who working in the house from 1967 to 1968 saw a similar female apparition standing in the house stairs. [4] [5]
The house has been restored and turned into a heritage house since the restoration works in 2004. The house provides insights to life during the administration of British North Borneo and is furnished with a reproduction of colonial furniture and antiques. [2] A gallery on the first floor tells the story of Agnes, her books and her family. [2]
Sabah is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalimantan province to the south. The Federal Territory of Labuan is an island just off Sabah's west coast. Sabah shares maritime borders with Vietnam to the west and the Philippines to the north and east. Kota Kinabalu is the state capital and the economic centre of the state, and the seat of the Sabah State government. Other major towns in Sabah include Sandakan and Tawau. The 2020 census recorded a population of 3,418,785 in the state. It has an equatorial climate with tropical rainforests, abundant with animal and plant species. The state has long mountain ranges on the west side which forms part of the Crocker Range National Park. Kinabatangan River, the second longest river in Malaysia runs through Sabah. The highest point of Sabah, Mount Kinabalu is also the highest point of Malaysia.
Sandakan formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of the state in the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo. In 2010, the city had an estimated population of 157,330 while the overall municipal area had a total population of 396,290. The population of the municipal area had increased to 439,050 by the 2020 Census.
Tawau, formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of the state in the administrative centre of Tawau Division, which is bordered by the Sulu Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south at Cowie Bay and shares a border with North Kalimantan, Indonesia. The town had an estimated population as of 2010, of 113,809, while the whole municipality area had a population of 397,673. The municipal area had a population of 372,615 at the 2020 Census.
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Agnes Newton Keith was an American writer best known for her three autobiographical accounts of life in North Borneo before, during, and after World War II. The second of these, Three Came Home, tells of her time in Japanese prisoner-of-war camp and civilian internee camp in North Borneo and Sarawak, and was made into a film of the same name in 1950. She published seven books in all.
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Henry George Keith (1899–1982), known as Harry Keith, was a British forester and plant collector.
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Walter Keith Caple Wookey, also known as Keith Wookey, was a District Officer and later Resident in the post-war British Colonial Government of North Borneo. At some point Wookey was the most senior official stationed in Sandakan as Resident and was also appointed by the Queen to the Executive Council, North Borneo.
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Media related to Agnes Keith House at Wikimedia Commons