The two storey solid wooden building housing the museum today was built in the year 1897 as a fort by the second White Rajah, Charles Brooke to impose peace and order in the region where warfare among the local tribes prevailed.
The other momentous event in 1957 was the decision made by the oil company to relinquish some 75% of the land concession in the hinterland of Sarawak after explorationary surveys had shown no indications of oil.