St. Michael's Church Sandakan: Sabah's Oldest Stone Church

St. Michael's Church at a glance

St. Michael's and All Angels Church is an Anglican church in Sandakan and one of Sabah's most important heritage buildings. It holds a unique distinction: it is the oldest stone church in Sabah and the first stone building in North Borneo, built mainly from locally quarried grey-green granite (Anglican Diocese of Sabah, checked 7 October 2026). For a town that grew quickly in the late nineteenth century, the slow, deliberate raising of a stone church was a statement of permanence.

Today the church is a fixture on the Sandakan Heritage Trail, drawing visitors who come for its history as much as for worship. Its weathered stone walls tell a story that spans thirteen years of construction, a world war, and more than a century of community life on the Sabah coast.

Foundation and a 13-year build

The story of St. Michael's begins with the clergyman William Henry Elton, a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel who arrived in North Borneo in 1888. After choosing a hilltop site close to the town, he saw the foundation stone laid in September 1893 (Anglican Diocese of Sabah, checked 7 October 2026).

The design came from a New Zealander, Mr. B.W. Mountfort (Sabah Tourism Board, checked 7 October 2026). What followed was anything but quick. Building a stone church in a young frontier town was a formidable undertaking, and it took thirteen more years before the Gothic-style church was finished and consecrated in September 1906 (Anglican Diocese of Sabah, checked 7 October 2026).

From ironwood to Sabah's first stone building

The long construction reflects a building that evolved as it rose. Work began with belian (ironwood) timber, the durable native hardwood of Borneo, then progressed to brick, and was finally realised in stone. That stone is said to have come from nearby Buli Sim Sim, giving the church its solid, grounded character (Sabah Tourism Board, checked 7 October 2026).

One distinctive detail sets it apart: the white stones used for the windows and doors were brought from Hong Kong, a reminder of the trading links that connected Sandakan to the wider region in its heyday. The end result was the first stone building in North Borneo, a milestone in the state's architectural history.

The war and the Australian windows

Accounts of the church's wartime damage differ. The Sabah Tourism Board says the church avoided major damage during World War II (Sabah Tourism Board, checked 7 October 2026). A Borneo Post feature says it was bombed and partly damaged during the Allied campaign, with the wooden roof and interior fittings destroyed while the stone walls and structural shell remained intact, and that it was restored in the 1950s (Borneo Post, checked 7 October 2026). The diocese records that St Michael's Church and School needed rebuilding after the war (Anglican Diocese of Sabah, checked 7 October 2026).

One of the church's most poignant features dates from the years that followed. Its stained-glass memorial windows, known as the Windows of Remembrance and the Friendship Windows, were donated by relatives of Australian prisoners of war to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (Sabah Tourism Board, checked 7 October 2026). The first stage was completed in April 2005, and the windows honour the Australian and British prisoners who died in Sabah and the local people who helped them (Lynette Silver, project organiser, checked 7 October 2026). The gift ties St. Michael's to the shared wartime history of Sandakan and Australia, and the windows remain a moving point of interest for visitors today.

The Anglican Diocese of Sabah

St. Michael's belongs to the Anglican Church in Sabah, whose diocese was created on 24 July 1962 as the Diocese of Jesselton and renamed the Diocese of Sabah in 1968 (Anglican Diocese of Sabah, checked 7 October 2026). Its cathedral is All Saints' Cathedral in Kota Kinabalu, completed in 1959 (Anglican Diocese of Sabah, checked 7 October 2026), while St. Michael's stands as one of the diocese's most historic churches.

The Anglican story in the wider region runs deeper still. The diocese counts the Church of Our Holy Saviour in Labuan, consecrated on 18 December 1866, as its first church (Anglican Diocese of Sabah, checked 7 October 2026), and St. James' Church in Kudat grew from Hakka Christian congregations that Elton urged to unite in the 1890s (Anglican Diocese of Sabah, checked 7 October 2026). Together these churches map the early spread of Anglicanism across North Borneo.

Christianity across Sabah

Anglicanism is only one strand of Sabah's Christian heritage. Roman Catholics, Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), the Borneo Evangelical Church, and other Protestant churches all have large followings, particularly among Kadazan-Dusun, Murut and other indigenous communities.

Set against this backdrop, St. Michael's represents the older, colonial-era Anglican presence from which much of Sabah's Christian life would later branch out.

Visiting St. Michael's on the Heritage Trail

St. Michael's is open to visitors from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on Monday and Wednesday to Saturday, and is closed on Sunday, Tuesday and public holidays. A maintenance donation of RM10 (non-Malaysian adults) or RM5 (Malaysian adults) is collected at the Elton Resource Centre, and children enter free (Sabah Tourism Board, checked 7 October 2026). It forms part of the Sandakan Heritage Trail, a walking route that links the town's most significant historic sites. It is a natural stop on any heritage-focused tour of Sandakan, and its stonework rewards a slow, close look.

As with any place of worship, a few courtesies apply. Dress modestly, keep your voice down, and be aware of services that may be in progress. Photography is generally welcome outdoors, where the stone facade and pointed windows are at their most striking; please ask before photographing inside. Pause, too, before the Australian stained-glass windows — a quiet reminder of the wartime history woven into the building's walls.

Frequently asked questions