Otacult Trip: Onrust Island
God bless. For this otacult trip (otaku-cultural trip or I usually mentioned it as wisata berwibudaya — in Bahasa Indonesia), I got the (sudden) opportunity joining Jakarta Walking Tour Festival on October. There were three destinations for this tour and one of them were Onrust Island; which is part of Thousand Islands (Kepulauan Seribu), Jakarta.
The windmill; one of the icons of Onrust Island.
Onrust Island is also well known as Ship Island (Pulau Kapal). Onrust was originated from Dutch; means ‘never resting’ or in English it’s called unrest.
Onrust Island Cultural Heritage Building; part of the Onrust Archaeological Museum (Museum Arkeologi Onrust).
Onrust Island Archaeological Garden consisted of Onrust Island, Cipir Island, Bidadari Island, and Kelor Island—was declared by the governor of Jakarta (Ali Sadikin) in 2002. This area had recorded history and archaeological evidences from early 17 century to the mid 20 century. The management team has been planning to develop and expand Onrust archaeological site as an open air museum— a museum that could exhibit the landscape from the past.
The remaining ruins of the hospital.
Here the long historical records of Onrust Island.
Onrust Island was established as a dock and shipyard by Netherlands through VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or Dutch East India Company) in 1615.
A small fortress was built in 1658, and then it was expanded into a pentagon shaped fortress. In 1671, a warehouse, dock, and windmill were also built.
Around 1800-1810, the facilities on the island were destroyed by the British, but then the Dutch repaired and rebuilt them all.
The remaining of beds for Hajj quarantine station (1911)
The island became quarantine station for the returning pilgrims from the Hajj in 1911.
In 1933, Onrust Island was turned into prison for the arrested rebels and Germany's spies for Netherlands in 1933, during World Ward II.
The prison during the Japanese occupation.
Japan also used Onrust Island as prison for the criminals during their occupation in 1942.
In 1960, the Island became the sanatorium for tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
The cemetery area of Onrust Island.
In 1972, the governor of Jakarta— Ali Sadikin— established and declared Onrust Island as protected historical site (Suaka Taman Purbakala Kepulauan Seribu).
I was thrilled and grateful that I finally could touch down at Onrust Island, especially after getting a look of some of its documentations at Bahari Museum. Here, I could not only refresh and relearn the historical aspects; but also enjoy the breezy and calm ambience of the island. What a wholesome otacult trip!
Location: Onrust Island
Cheers,
𖹭chkmnpd𖹭
