New lease of life for Sarawak’s oldest dockyard
- BT
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
KUCHING, 21 April 2026 - The Brooke Dockyard Industrial Heritage Museum (BDY) along the Kuching Waterfront was declared open last night by Premier of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, in a grand ceremony to mark a special moment in Sarawak’s history.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Premier said he wanted young Sarawakians to do more than just read about the region’s history in books.
“They must experience it for themselves, an immersive encounter at the very site where that history was made,” he said, adding that turning the old dockyard into a museum was a smart move for Sarawak’s economy.
“The conversion of old buildings like Brooke Dockyard is not a waste of space, it is smart economic investment. What we are witnessing is the rise of Adaptive Reuse and Repurposing, where old industrial structures are given new life as premium tourism products,” he explained.
The Premier also said that the museum is a major boost for the whole Kuching Waterfront area, bringing together Sarawak’s history, culture and modern ambitions in one place and breathing new life into the waterfront while also stimulating the local economy.
“This change shows the direction of PCDS 2030, which uses heritage assets to drive both the economy and creativity, while building a society that takes pride in its history even as it moves forward with modern life,” he said, adding that all these efforts are “proof of the Sarawak Government’s commitment to achieving its goal of making Sarawak an advanced and prosperous region, in an inclusive and sustainable way, through data-driven innovations by 2030.”
Meanwhile, in his welcoming speech at the juncture, Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak, Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said he was very hopeful about what the new museum could do for Sarawak.
“The opening of the Brooke Dockyard Industrial Heritage Museum is a historic moment and an iconic addition to Sarawak’s museum landscape. I am very optimistic that the presence of this museum, together with our existing museums, will add value to our heritage conservation capacity, encourage the region’s tourism ecosystem, and serve as an important platform for advancing STEM education as we prepare ourselves to meet the challenges of the future,” he said.
Karim added that the museum is part of Sarawak’s big tourism plan, with a goal to grow the number of visitors to the state from 4.6 million to 12.7 million people, bringing in an estimated RM50 billion to the economy by 2035.
After the official opening, the Premier and guests took a tour of the museum’s gallery, walking through a collection of old heavy machinery and engineering equipment that was once used to run the dockyard. The highlight of the tour was the life-sized replica of the His Highness Yacht (HHY) Zahora, a steam-powered ship that was originally built in Renfrew, Scotland in 1894 and later bought to Sarawak by Rajah Charles Brooke.
The story of the Brooke Dockyard goes all the way back to the afternoon of Friday, 31 May 1912. On that day, the Rajah Muda of Sarawak, Charles Vyner Brooke, and Ranee Muda Sylvia Brett travelled by river to the dockyard, where she officially declared it open in front of a large crowd of people from different communities.
It was a big moment that marked the start of proper, large-scale ship maintenance in Sarawak. The dockyard quickly became the most important ship repair centre in the region and is today recognised as the oldest dockyard in Malaysia. It played a key role in bringing industrial progress to Sarawak and gave people here some of the first industrial jobs in the territory.
As for the HHY Zahora, the ship served the Brooke administration loyally for more than 30 years before it was retired in 1928. Now, almost 100 years later, a full-sized replica stands inside the museum, giving today’s visitors a chance to see with their own eyes just how impressive these old ships were.
Brooke Dockyard Industrial Heritage Museum (quick facts)
Renovation and transformation carried out in phases from 2020 to 2025
Total cost: approximately RM46.7 million
Oldest dockyard in Malaysia, first opened on 31 May 1912
Features old industrial machinery, dry dock structures, and a life-sized replica of HHY Zahora
Open to the public from 21 April 2026 (today), starting at 9 am
Managed by the Sarawak Museum Department
The museum is open to the latest addition to Sarawak’s growing network of 19 museums and galleries across the region, which together welcomed 93,858 visitors in just the first three months of 2026.
