The Chimney Museum () is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

in Kubong,

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan (), is an island federal territory of Malaysia. It includes and six smaller islands off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capital is Victoria, which is best kno ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. The museum details the history of Kubong when

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

was at its peak under the administration of the British North Borneo Chartered Company.

History

The area around the museum used to be a major coal mining site during the

British North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo was originally establish ...

administration from 1847 until 1911. During archaeological digging work was done in 1997, archaeologists found 12 layers of bricks beneath the chimney. Also in the same year, soil work was carried out to stabilise and reinforce the structure of the chimney and also restoration to its original structure. The museum was officially opened in 2002. The museum has received the International Green Apple Awards for Environmental Best Practice and Sustainable Development 2013 awards for its historical architecture style.

Architecture

The museum also features a chimney tower which is a remaining from the previous coal mining activities in the area. Built in the early 1900s, the chimney is a rectangular-shape structure with 32 metres in height. It is fully built by red bricks counted up to 23,000 pieces which were imported from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It has a British architectural style. There is a hole and two arch-shaped doors facing west and south inside the chimney. The real function of the chimney has not been fully determined up until today. Although there is a suggestion that it might have functioned as an observation deck, from which information about incoming ships could be broadcast to Victoria Harbour and Labuan town using an optical telegraph system known as

semaphore Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arra ...

Exhibition

The museum consists of seven galleries and one discovery room, including history of coal mining around the world, coal mining location around Malaysia, process and methods in coal mining, coal specimen, mining tools etc.

Opening time

The museum opens everyday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. free of charge.

References

{{Malaysian historical architectures and sites 2002 establishments in Malaysia Museums established in 2002 Museums in Labuan

History

Architecture

Exhibition

Opening time

See also

References