Can’t these grave robbers leave the dead alone. What a shame on the Sarawak Government and the Anglican community. Even in death can’t you leave them alone. You can have thousands of excuses, but if you cannot vouch for the safety of a dead person, consider yourself dead. Rest in peace.
Graves of Sarawak’s former ruling Brooke family moved
By SHARON LING
KUCHING: Three graves belonging to the Brooke family who ruled Sarawak before independence were exhumed from a burial plot near the Astana and reburied at a new site in front of Fort Margherita here on Wednesday.
The graves were relocated to make way for the new state legislative assembly complex currently under construction on a hillslope between the Astana and the Fort.
During the exhumation and reburial service conducted by Reverend Aeries Sumping Jingan, dean of the Anglican Diocese of Kuching, the remains of the three Brooke family members were placed in new coffins before being laid to rest at the new site.
Rev Aeries said the old Brooke family burial ground had been consecrated in October 1859 and was under the care of the Anglican church.
Three persons were buried there – Capt John Brooke Johnson-Brooke’s first wife Annie Grant Brooke, who died in 1858, their three-year-old son Francis Basil Brooke who died two years later, and Capt Johnson-Brooke’s second wife Julia Caroline Welstead Brooke, who died in 1862.
Both Annie, who was 24, and Julia Caroline, 28, died in childbirth.
Capt Johnson-Brooke was the eldest nephew and one-time heir apparent of the first White Rajah James Brooke. He was later deposed and replaced by his younger brother Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, who went on to become the second White Rajah.
Rev Aeries said Annie Grant Brooke had been buried in the St Thomas Cathedral graveyard and her remains were later moved to the family burial ground near the Astana in 1859.
He said the three persons were buried in a small vault with the coffins on top of each other.
“Now the new site will be a memorial ground to the three of them. The old headstones will be moved here and the memorial will be open to the public and tourists,” he added.
The memorial is expected to be completed in two to three months’ time.
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