Jason Brooke speaks to reporters at the Brooke Gallery in Fort Margherita in Kuching yesterday.
KUCHING (June 9): The Brooke Trust director Jason Brooke hopes to promote Sarawak tourism in the United Kingdom (UK) through the Rajahs’ tombs in Devon.
Jason said the Brooke Trust has acquired the Burrator House in Devon, the home where Sir James Brooke retired at, and they hoped to have a museum installed at the home.
“With Sarawak museums which particularly have a strong connection with the UK where my family originally came from, and also where all the Rajahs were buried at the tombs in Devon, the charity has acquired the Burrator House, and we are hoping to install a museum there.
“If we could do that, we could have a natural bridge between the UK and Sarawak, promoting this element of the state through history and heritage and hopefully to promote the state over there in the UK,” said Jason when interviewed at the Brooke Gallery in Fort Margherita here yesterday.
Meanwhile, Jason, who just arrived here on Tuesday, also welcomed everyone to the Brooke Gallery as it is now fully open.
“It has been a really tough time for everybody, for museums, physical attractions, as we had almost two years of closure and we are now fully open, receiving visitors, tourism, particularly local and regional tourism.
“So, we are looking at ways we can revive and enhance the offerings for museum like introducing augmented reality and virtual reality added to the museum exhibitions, free exhibitions that we could put on for a few months to get people out there interested,” he said.
He added that the gallery had received about 170 to 180 visitors in a day for the last weekend.
“That is a tremendous amount and it is a really good result particularly during post Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.