LABUAN MUSEUM SQUARE

Opposite the Labuan Square is the Museum Square. It consists of a few old houses of colonial design. One of them has a high gabled roof of orange tiles with eaves and cool recesses. Four old Flame of the Forest trees stand in a square area, casting a shade over park benches and commemorative stones. They were planted by the Chinese, Malay, Indian and European communities in 1953 to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The various stone plaques record historical events in Labuan. One announces the changing of the island's name from Labuan to Maidashima, by order of General Tojo who pass through Labuan in 1943. Another one dating from the Second World War commemorates both the landing of the 9th Division Imperial Australian Forces on 10 June 1945 at Labuan, marking the start of the Liberation of Labuan and the Borneo mainland from the Japanese. A granite slab also commemorates the 1846 handing over of Labuan by the Brunei Sultanate to the British. The inscriptions are done by sailors on Captain Rodney Mundy's ship 'Iris' on route to Labuan from Hong Kong for the handing over ceremony of Labuan.

During the Japanese Occupation, it was tossed aside by the Japanese but was later retrieved and remounted. It is amazingly in good condition despite all this. The old colonial buildings house the Labuan Museum and a handicraft centre. There is also a memorial commemorating the formation of Malaysia. A bronze plaque is dedicated to the memory of General Maida who died in an air crash at Bintulu while en route to Labuan in 1942.