I lived in Kuching between 1995 and 2006. Adelaide is the city that I lived between 1989 ~ 1994 and 2006 until now. One city is located at the tropic while the other is located down south. They are very distinct cities but also share some similarities and relationship.
Kuching Skyline
Adelaide Skyline
Let's has a look at Kuching first. Kuching is founded by Sir James Brooke in 1841.
Sir James Brooke
James Brooke arrived at Sarawak in a 142-ton schooner, The Royalist. Sir James Brooke helped the Sultan of Brunei to put down a rebellion. The Sultan of Brunei rewarded him a small piece of land called Sarawak to Sir James Brooke. The land covered area around Kuching. Sir James Brooke rules Sarawak as his personnel Kingdom and Kuching was made his capital and head quarters. Sir James Brooke and his descendants are known as The White Rajahs of Sarawak. The White Rajahs expanded their territory at the expenses of areas controlled by the Sultan of Brunei. Brunei lost more than 90% of its territories to the White Rajahs.
The present population of Kuching is around 600,000. The society is multi racial and consisted of Chinese, Malay, Dayaks, and other ethnic group. A majority of people in Kuching are capable of communicating in Bahasa Melayu and English. On top of Malay and English, Mandarin and other Chinese dialects are widely spoken.
The founder of Adelaide is Colonel William Light. Colonel William Light sailed to Adelaide in 1836 on the 162 tons rapid. Colonel William Light surveyed the coastal area of South Australia and decided the harbour and capital of the new colony will be located.
Colonel William Light
There Light selected the location and laid out the street plan of the city of Adelaide. The city was planned by Light in a grid fashion with the main streets running east to west to avoid the dust storms blowing from the north. When Colonel Light was designing Adelaide, his plans included surrounding the city with 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) of parklands. This would provide clean fresh air throughout Adelaide.
Sarawak is a state in Malaysia similar to South Australia is a state in Australia. The state and federal government system in both Sarawak and South Australia is similar inherited from the British.
Sir James Brooke father Thomas Brooke was English and his mother Anna Maria was born in Hertfordshire, the illegitimate daughter of Scottish peer Colonel William Start. James Brooke was born in Secrore, a suburb of Benares, India.
Colonel William Light was born in Kuala Kedah, Malaysia and grew up in Penang. He was an illegitimate son of Captain Francis Light, the founder of Penang. His mother was Martina Rozells, who was a Portugese and Malay descent. The first relationship was established where Colonel William Light who founded Adelaide was Malaysia born and Kuching is a capital city for Sarawak in Malaysia.
During the second world war, the last Rajah of Sarawak Sir Charles Vyner Brooke evacuated himself and his family to Sydney where they remain for the duration of the war. The Japanese surrendered on board HMAS Kapunda at Kuching to Brig Eastick in September 11, 1945. Kapunda is a town in South Australia 75km from Adelaide. Sarawak was placed under Australian Military rule until 15 April 1946 when civil government was restored.
Sir Charles Vyner Brooke
Throughout the second world war and during confrontation with Indonesia, the Australian Army was fighting for the liberation and threat faced by Sarawak. The present Batu Lintang Teaching college was once Batu Lintang POW camp where three thousand Allied POWs were housed including Australian soldiers. The camp was liberated by Australian 9th Division on September 1945.
The present Chief Minister of Sarawak Taib Mahmud is a graduate from The University of Adelaide. His wife Laila Taib is from Adelaide. The first lady of Sarawak is an Adelaide woman. They do have a lot of similarities and relationships in between the two cities which seems to be unrelated.
