On top of the hill overlooking Sandakan is the historic house of Agnes Newton Keith, formerly known as Newlands, now turned into a museum.

The museum is named after Agnes Newton Keith (July 4, 1901 – March 30, 1982), an American author best known for her three autobiographical accounts of life in British North Borneo (now Sabah) before, during and after World War II……….”Land Below The Wind”, “White Man Returns” and “Three Came Home”.

She published seven books in all.

The book “Three Came Home”, about her experience in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp and as a civilian internee camp in North Borneo and Sarawak, was made into a film of the same name in 1950.

The house was restored and turned into a heritage house in 2004.

Furnished with reproduction furniture from the colonial period and actual antiques, the house gives an insight into life when Sabah was under British North Borneo.

The house had a reputation for being haunted, something Agnes had experienced herself. There are stories that the antique phone displayed in the house rings every now and then though it is not connected to any line.

On the first floor there is a gallery of the life of Agnes, her books and her family.

I found the old photographs of Sandakan before, during and after the war especially fascinating.

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