Atkinson Clock Tower of Jesselton

When all things in Jesselton changed to Kota Kinabalu, this hour strike sound remain the very same sound in my memory of 1964/5 when I was beside this same old clock.

This is the very same old clock that strike the hour of my birth in a humble wooden hour 3 km away on 2 September 1953.

There were 3 sounds of old Jesselton that buried deep in my heart : the hour strike of Atkinson Clock, the church bell of Basel and the call of cicadas along my school road.

While the church bell has since been removed and the cicadas disappeared, this patriotic clock strike every hour since then until today.

Each time I come to KK I would come to old Clock Tower before an hour change just to hear the sound of same old Atkinson Clock that strike the first hour of my birth.

Today the Atkinson Clock Tower is well preserved by Tourist Department of Sabah. The Building with blue roof top is the Police Head Quarter of Kota Kinabalu City. In photo right lower is Mei Yin , age 5, the youngest in the Wong Family.

The railway line as mentioned in Christopher Wong's Wong Family History which Wong Shin Chiang walked on has long gone and replaced with tar road.

1903/1905

Mary Edith Atkinson build the Tower in 1903 (1905?), in memory of Francis George Atkinson - the first District Officer of Jesselton during the British North Borneo Chartered Company Administration in Sabah

Francis George Atkinson succumbed to a tropical disease at the young age of 28.

Atkinson Clock Tower is one of the most enduring landmarks in Kota Kinabalu, it stands prominently on a bluff along Signal Hill Road adjacent to the old Police Station.

Francis George Atkinson, was the first District Officer of Jesselton, died of malaria 'Borneo Fever' at the young age of 28 in 1902. His mother, Mary Edith Atkinson of England, built the Atkinson Clock Tower on Bukit Brace (Brace Hill) in 1905, in the memory of her son.

This all-wood, no-nails structure Clock Tower has the distinction of being the oldest standing structure in the whole of Sabah that survived the destruction of Jesselton town during air raids and blitz of World War II. Till today, it still serves to keep the city's time.

Wong Shin Chiang arrived from Kuching around 1906 to 1909. When he follow the railway line from the port he landed, Wong Shin Chiang should have seen this talk clock tower. This clock tower was completed just about couple of years before he landed in Jesselton. It is unlikely Wong Shin Chiang has a watch as in those day only the well to do can afford an item like a watch. The clock tower should server as his time keeping for many many years to come.

While the original merbau wood used to build the Clock Tower has been replaced over the years, the building's overall structure has been retained. As late as 1956, the lights of the Clock Tower were used as a navigation aid by local ships coming into port. However, the tower can no longer be seen from the sea due to the tall buildings. The Clock Tower was gazette as a heritage building in 1983.

During the year 1954-1966 grandmother Phang Lien Yin often refer to it as 'Tai Ching Liou" (Big Clock Tower).

The Atkinson Clock Tower is managed by the Sabah Museum under its Antiquity and History section.