Artefacts chronicling the massacre of allied soldiers at St Stephen's College during the second world war were displayed yesterday as preparations for a museum at the Stanley campus gather pace. The exhibition is being held on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the massacre by occupying Japanese soldiers.
The college is building a museum to display the artefacts and others collected that cover the period of the war and the school's history.
The Development Bureau and the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust will fund about HK$800,000 of the cost, while the school is expected to spend over HK$1 million on the project. The museum is expected to open in about two years.
'We are very proud of being a historically significant school,' Dr Louise Law Yi-shu, the principal of the college, said yesterday. 'We believe that by engaging students in volunteering as tour guides for exhibitions they would develop stronger historical and civic senses.'
The most poignant of the artefacts shown was the diary of Eric Robert Jones, detailing the daily life of a prisoner held at the Stanley Internment Camp, and the general war situation in Hong Kong.
'The diary is of great historical value,' Law said. 'Major events such as the mistaken bombing of the college by the American military have been recorded.'