EnDorsement BY

( Government House as now knowns as Astana )
( Main Bazaar )




( Cherko Market ) ( In front Cherko Market )

( Before Now As A Waterfront )

With the exception of Brunie town northwest Borneo was almost wholly rural when James Brooke arrived in 1839. There was, however a small Malay settlement at Kuching the centre of the Brunei Malay administration for the Sarawak river areas, it was natural that Brooke made the town his capital. From that time on the former Malay village has been the leading town in northern Borneo as well as the political, administrative, commercial and social hub of Sarawak. It has only been since World War 2 that other town notably Sibu and Miri have begun to challenge Kuching for supremacy.

race course and people

activity at main Bazaar from Thompson Road

( Now as Known as Merdeka Padang )

esplanade and Bandstand,Kuching

Then as now the town centre around the Chinese bazaar district situated across the river from the Brooke Astana and fort, the tone of urban life was essentially Chinese, the bazaar providing the focus for commercial and social life. Most Chinese lived above their shophouses or in boarding houses in the Bazaar, only the wealthiest Chinese and the small European group live in Bungalows outside the town area. Padungan Road the centre of the thriving business district today was little more than Sago factories while the suburban areas to the west and south of the Bazaar were only beginning to be developed. Among other differences India Street was joined to Carpenter Street where Bnak Negara now stand, while the bandstand and an esplanade occupied what is today the Centre Padang. No go downs blocked the view of the river from Main Bazaar. The Sungai Kuching for which the town is named was only filled in a decade or two after the turn of the century. Temples Street occupies that spot today.

Kuching Leader 1910

Leading Citizens

Encik Abdullah House in Kuching 1870

St Thomas School ( now only this part has been maintain near St. Joseph Schools )
Old Museum and Rock Road

The Chinese began arriving with the establishment of Brooke Government and soon became the largest urban group especially after large-scale immigration commenced after 1870. There was also a number of India, many of them Muslims. Many Sarawak Malays also live in Kuching and other town indeed Kuching began as a Malay town and has always boasted a sizeable Malay population. But very few Malays lived in th bazaar area most lived in Kampung across the river and to the west and southeast of the bazaar. Some of these have now disappeared. The Kampung timeless institution combined many features of urban and rural life, being in reality a relatively self-contained village situation often with in or near a town. This was even more so in the old days.

Animony Worker

Santubong Outing ( kugiran santubong )

First S.G.P Sarawak Soccer Team in 1918

The population of Kuching grew from about 6’000 in 1848 to perhaps 20’000 by 1880 and close to 30’000 by the early 1900’s. Everyday life in the town was varied. For the Chinese, the ubiquitous general’s store and sundry goods store of the Bazaar were augmented by stall and shops providing an assortment of food, drinks and entertained. Occasional Chinese WAYANGS often sponsored by opium or gambling concessionaires, helped attract both TOWKAYS and worker to the gambling stall and opium dens, then and integral part of Sarawak Chinese culture. Religious processions both Christian and traditional Chinese, the yearly racing meetings, regattas and outings to Santubong on the coast, while the Sarawak Museum, opened in 1981, was the popular spot. Rickshaws were the common mode of transportation. There were several Chinese schools as well as the Anglican and Roman Chatolic schools which were both smaller and less sophisticated than today

Malays life was more genteel. Woman were usually veiled and seldom seen outside the home, this custom only ended with the Japanese Occupation. Some Malays were extremely prominent in the Brooke administration and active in community affairs, indeed the supreme council composed largely of Kuching Malay Leaders. There were several Malay schools teaching both practical subject at the Koran, and men like the schoolmasters ENCIK ABU BAKAR provided an intellectual focus for the town.

Kuching was not the only town but pictures are most easily available for the capital. Bau, Simanggang, Sibu an Bintulu were also important in the early days. In these Outstations life was generally quieter. Bau was the centre of the great mining district where Chinese and European work for gold and antimony. The Bornoe Company ltd. Even had a railroad in the Bid mine. Although an important town by the mid 1880’s, Sibu only began to suggest the modern bustling urban area with the advance of the Foochows in 1901. More typical perhaps of the smaller outstations was Marudi, and then called Claudetown with Chinese general’s stores fronting the river and the various Dayaks costumers supplying the clientele for the Chinese shopkeepers. The populations of these towns seldom exceeded a few hundred.