| Visit the Rest
of The PPDRDG by Returning
to
the Site Map and Picking Another Page! The PROPEOPDEMREP's Commissar of Historical Preservationist Memorials Presents: The Museum of the British Indian Ocean Territory Located on the Atoll of Diego Garcia Please note: The museum was vandalized a few years ago by political activists, and closed. However, the BRIT REP will approve escorted entry, and was kind enough to permit my son to take photos of the exhibits in 2017. Yep, that's right, my oldest son has been there too! |
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 Many thanks to my son Christopher for the pictures. |
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Below: There's the door to the Museum - right nest to the T-Shirt Shop.  Below: An explanatory chart outlining the history of the Chagos Archipelago.  A nautical chart of the Chagos, provided by Cable and Wireless, which for many decades was the only commercial phone connection to the real world!  There are several display cases of natural "stuff" gathered around the island. Much of this used to be in the BRIT REP's welcoming salon in his quarters.     Below: These paintings are fascinating. These are copies of the WW2 watercolors by W.L.B. Cormack, graciously provided by his widow.       Below: The walls are covered with this sort of natural history display.  Below: The human history of the BIOT, and Diego Garcia in particular, is also available. These photographers and several others were taken in 1956 during Governor Scott's visit to Diego Garcia.  Above: Of course, we all know they are watching SOCCER, not real Football!    The workers above are extracting the meat of the coconut "seeds". This is the Copra which, when dried and pressed, produces coconut oil, which was the business of the plantations in the Chagos.  Above: This is K for Katie, the PBY wrecked in September 1944 in a storm at the East Point Plantation. Below: There are several displays of old bottles and metal fragments collected on the island in the early years of military occupation.         Below: What you can't live without when you don't have indoor plumbing!   Below: Now in the Museum, I remember seeing this pot in the Manager's House at the East Point Plantation in 1982.      Below: There is a bunch of stuff waiting to be curated and added to the Museum's displays. This will probably never happen, for a number of reasons, not the least of which are some of the political issues surrounding the sovereignty of the Archipelago.  Below: The door to the Museum. Without the staffing to act as docents, it will remain closed without escort. Perhaps someday a volunteer group will be approved to curate and maintain the Museum, and it will become more readily available to the men and women stationed on Diego Garcia.  |
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