FOUR or five years ago, retired education officer Joseph Aloysius Kuek promised to revisit Sebuyau in Sri Aman Division after a trip there in June 1954.
FLASHBACK: The wooden shops (centre) in Sebuyau were burnt down on June 24 this year. — Photo taken by Joseph Aloysius Kuek in June, 1954.
However, the road conditions, at the time made the visit difficult and unsafe.
Today, it seems the 83-year-old has to put off the trip again — this time due to a fire that razed a row of 30 old wooden shops and 12 nearby stalls on June 24 this year.
So now, the octogenarian can only recall memories of Sebuyau through the photos he took on his first visit there.
To him, not only properties were lost to the fire but also part of the state’s historical heritage that cannot be replaced with ringgit and sen.
“It’s a pity one of the buildings, which I believe is over 70 years old, is now gone,” he told thesundaypost.
Kuek, a former lecturer at Batu Lintang Teachers’ College (now Batu Lintang Teachers’ Training Institute), visited Sebuyau in June 1954 with a group of 20 trainee teachers on a week-long educational excursion to learn about industries in the area.
While there, they called at the Sebuyau granite quarry not far from the old wooden shops.
“Back then, every year, we would organise an excursion outstation to learn about industries — and during the outing to Sebuyau in June 1954, I still remember it was just a small fishing village with a small government outstation office.
“I would say Sebuyau at that time was a quiet peaceful town and the granite quarry was the only big thing going on there in terms of development,” he said.
The quarry produced high-quality granite for the construction of the port at Sungai Priok (former Sim Kheng Hong Port).
According to Kueh, besides the quarry in Sebuyau, there were two others — one at Stabar, Mile 7, Kuching-Penrissen Road, and the other at Batu Kawah.
He said the high-quality granites from Sebuyau were also exported to Brunei for port and road construction.
“I hope the shops will be rebuilt using the same design and concrete to restore a valuable historical heritage,” he added.
The fire on June 24, spotted at 11.45pm, left more than 200 people homeless. Fortunately, there were no casualties but losses are expected to be enormous as the blaze spread so fast that shopkeepers and their families could not salvage anything.
In June 1954, Kueh, an avid photographer, managed to capture on film the row of wooden shops with his Zeiss Ikon using 120 film.