Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah College was officially opened on 29 September 1978 by the third Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Hussein Onn. Dubbed the 'Eton of Borneo', the college was formerly known as "Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah Junior Science College". Its original purpose was to serve as a Junior College for Form 6 students who obtained good results in their Form 5 examination. In later years, the college started admitting Form 1 to Form 5 students while still keeping the "Kolej" (College) prefix. Admission for Form 6 students was halted in 2005.