In October 1951 the author and her husband set off on a 8,000-mile sea voyage that would take them to British North Borneo (now Sabah, Malaysia), then still a Crown Protectorate, where they were both to be involved in the setting up of Kent College, the first teacher training facility in the region, at which her husband was to be the first Principal.
Their outward journey took them to many interesting places en route – Ceuta, Suez, Aden, Bombay, Colombo, Penang, Singapore – and, in the manner of the best travel writers, the author describes them with an artist’s eye for detail and colourful rendering, conveying the essence of what is now a bygone era.
Similarly, her observations and comments on day-to-day life in Jesselton, the coastal town in North Borneo where they lived, which has changed greatly in the intervening years, are now of considerable historical interest and her knowledgeable commentary on the history, geography and flora & fauna of the region is equally illuminating.
Her recollections will be of particular interest to anyone who remembers British North Borneo, or indeed any of Britain’s far-flung colonial outposts, in the postwar years but they may also be enjoyed by ‘armchair travellers’ of all ages.