A. T. Saunders#Matilda Wallace

Saunders' grandparents, William and Ann Galway left the north of Ireland on the Adam Lodge in 1837 and arrived in Sydney on 13 July 1837. Ten years later they came to Port Adelaide in the Juno, the first steamship to enter Port Adelaide from another colony under its own steam. Both his mother and her sister married ship's captains.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63417711 |title="Make a Note of It.". |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=19 May 1921 |accessdate=17 February 2013 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} His father, Captain Thomas Alfred Saunders (married Margaret Galway 23 June 1849) arrived in South Australia from Hobart in 1849, and in 1852 was appointed first harbormaster at Port Elliot, then a busy harbour, and while there, helped survey the treacherous Murray Mouth.

Saunders was born at Queenstown in the house his grandfather William Galway built in 1859, then the only two-storey house in the area, later owned by Frank Coleman.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53429486 |title=Mr. A. T. Saunders Looks Back |newspaper=The Register News-Pictorial |location=Adelaide |date=19 December 1929 |accessdate=17 February 2013 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

In 1867, after only two years' schooling, Saunders began work as an office boy. From late 1875 to 1876 he worked as a clerk for Coombe Brothers, storekeepers in the fledgling town of Port Pirie, so gained valuable first-hand knowledge of its early days.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95426619 |title=A Peep into the Past. |newspaper=Port Pirie Recorder |location=SA |date=26 January 1918 |accessdate=17 February 2013 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} From 1895 to 1905 he was employed by the sharebroker H. L. Conran to keep his records.

In November 1886 he contributed his first article to a South Australian newspaper, his impressions of the effect the newly laid railway to Mount Gambler was having upon Beachport. He continued to write, and as the years went by the pursuit of South Australian history became a very serious hobby.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59966432 |title=Living in the Past |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=12 September 1925 |accessdate=16 February 2013 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

His greatest asset in this endeavour was his collection of clippings from every South Australian newspaper from 1837 to 1909, arranged chronologically, and relying on his memory to locate the required article.

He also had records of the arrival of every ship which had visited South Australia. Nearly every day he answered an enquiry relating to South Australian history, and frequently contacted authors and newspapers, not only in every Australian State, but also in England and America, with corrections on matters of fact.

Around 1911 Saunders took to visiting his bedridden aunt, who regaled him with stories of her time in the Spice Islands, where she had met the famed naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and the notorious Bully Hayes. The more he checked her dates and facts, the more he trusted her memory and decided to commit the Hayes story to print.

Having begun to write a history of Hayes, he found it essential to visit Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Any search undertaken by him was not abandoned until all possible avenues of information had been exhausted. Clerks in the British Admiralty were often called upon to delve into the dusty past, to complete Saunders' record of some old time sailing ship.

He once wrote to Joseph Conrad, pointing out an error that the author had made, and after Conrad replied, acknowledging the mistake, a correspondence sprang up between them. Conrad had visited South Australia as mate of the ship Torrens in 1893, and Saunders wrote again to Conrad to ascertain if the Galsworthy in her passenger list was the author John Galsworthy. A later visit to South Australia in the Otago was recalled in another letter by Conrad to Saunders:

:'14 June 1917, Capel House, Orlestone, near Ashford, Kent.

:'Dear Mr. Saunders — You are a terror for tracking people out. It strikes me if I had done some thing involving penal servitude I would not like to have had you after me. However, I have done nothing of the sort, and am not likely to now — too old, and I can enjoy without misgivings the evidences of your skill, tenacity, and acuteness. Many thanks for your letter with the enclosures, giving the history of those lively ladies, the daughters of the late lamented Bully Hayes. Mostly all the inferences and surmises in your letter are correct. I did go to Minlacowie. The farmers around were very nice to me and I gave their wives – on a never-to-be-for gotten day – a tea party on board the dear old Otago, then lying alongside the jetty there. The Smile of Fortune story does belong to the Otago cycle, if I may call it so. The Secret Sharer in the same volume also does in a way, as far as the Gulf of Siam selling goes. The swimmer himself was suggested to me by a young fellow, who was second mate in the sixties of the Cutty Sark, and had the misfortune to kill a man on her, but his skipper had the decency to let him swim ashore to the Java coast, as the ship was passing through Anjer Straits. The story was well remembered in the merchant service, even in my time. To a man of letters and a distinguished publicist so experienced as your self I need not point out that I had to make material from my own life's incidents, arranged, combined, coloured, for artistic purposes. I don't think there is anything reprehensible in that. After all, I am a writer of fiction, and it is not what actually happens, but the manner of presenting it that settles the literary, and even the moral value, of my work. My little volume of autobiography, of course, is absolutely genuine. The rest is a more or less close approximation to facts and suggestions. What I claim as true are my mental and emotional reactions to life, to men, and their affairs, and their passions, as I have seen them. I have, in that sense, kept always true to myself. I have not the time to write more at present, but pray believe that I appreciate very highly the kind way you are keeping me in mind. In a few days I will dispatch to you a copy of the new edition of Lord Jim, which is about to be published by Dent. Believe me, yours sincerely, JOSEPH CONRAD.'

{{Further|Matilda Wallace}}

In 1922 Saunders discovered an anonymous pamphlet in the Public Library titled Twelve Years' Life in Australia from 1859-1871. After making a public plea in The Register, he was able to identify, with the help of John Lewis, who met her in 1867,{{cite web|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3266992854|title=Matilda Wallace: Connections |accessdate=18 January 2025}} the author as Matilda Wallace, née Hill.{{cite web | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63650814 | title=Notes and Queries | newspaper=Register | date=5 June 1922 }} He expressed considerable admiration for 'what a plucky young and small "Pommy" woman did in South Australia and New South Wales in the early days'. He recognised the pamphlet as a valuable account of her experiences following her arrival here from Somerset. She left Liverpool on 31 October 1858 in the ship North and is named in The Register passenger list.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49897814 |title=Shipping Intelligence |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXIII |issue=3842 |location=South Australia |date=29 January 1859 |accessdate=19 January 2025 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} After marrying Abraham Wallace in Mt Gambier, she and her husband journeyed overland and eventually settled at Sturt's Meadows. Saunders claimed 'her history is well worth reading, and the phonetic spelling of places is interesting'. Following Saunders' investigations, the story was retold in the Adelaide Stock and Station Journal and repeated in at least one South-East newspaper.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200059283 |title=Pioneers of the South-East |newspaper=The South Eastern Times |issue=2124 |location=South Australia |date=29 July 1927 |accessdate=19 January 2025 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} The discovery was significant and the pamphlet frequently citedHardy, B. (1977) West of the Darling, Rigby Seal Books, Adelaide,Bib ID:

1083617

Adams, C. (2008). Way out west: Pastoral stories of western New South Wales. Ocean Publishing, Joondalup,

W.A.ISBN:

9781920783860

and included in collections.Australian Autobiographical Narratives: An Annotated Bibliography, Volume 2 Walsh, K. & Hooten, J. W. National Library Australia, 1993

ISBN 0642107947, 9780642107947

Saunders questioned the attitude of those, such as Pastor Brauer, who opined that South Australia in general and George Fife Angas in particular, owed a debt of gratitude to the 500-odd Germans who left their country to settle in South Australia around 1838. Angas had lost heavily in financing the unplanned third voyage; that of the Catharina under Captain Schacht,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55065098 |title=First German Settlement |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=2 February 1928 |accessdate=17 February 2013 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Pastor Kavel's people from Posen. Kavel had been ungrudging in his gratitude to the English and Dutton in particular.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55064427 |title=Lutheran Pioneer |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=18 February 1928 |accessdate=18 February 2013 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

On 12 January 1918, the South Australian Register published a letter{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63845653 |title=Man Who Exposed Land Deals |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=12 January 1918 |accessdate=5 March 2014 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} from Saunders which accused Government members Crawford Vaughan (Premier), Reginald Pole Blundell and Clarence Goode of complicity in shady land deals, notably the purchase at inflated prices from accomplices, of land intended for First AIF soldier-settlers. As a result of his enquiries, assisted by whistleblowers, and energetic publicising of his findings and opinions, a Royal Commission was held which found two officials (Chief Secretary Alfred William Styles, and Government Valuator Edward Britten Jones) guilty of misdemeanours,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87548937 |title=Government Land Deals |newspaper=The Chronicle |location=Adelaide |date=12 January 1918 |accessdate=5 March 2014 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} but failed to impeach Vaughan, Blundell and Goode, who issued Saunders with a writ for libel. Prominent citizens such as the Hon. D. M. Charleston, writing as a member of the Stock Exchange Club, contributed to a defence fund,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60336932 |title=The A. T. Saunders Fund |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=18 February 1918 |accessdate=5 March 2014 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} but the writ was withdrawn.

Saunders had a very jaundiced view of the personality and achievements of Francis Cadell, comparing him unfavourably with Charles Sturt and William Randell, accusing him of "childish vanity". He called his pioneering paddle-steamer Lady Augusta (or Lady Agusta as he delighted in referring to the spelling by which she was registered) a "two-funnelled monstrosity". "Cadell", said Saunders, "had plenty of political, financial, and Adelaide Government House pull . . . and Government money was poured into his pockets. His father, relatives, friends, and clique kept him well before the public and in the press. Lieutenant-Governor Young and Governor MacDonnell omitted from despatches that the Randells had the Mary Ann on the Murray months before Cadell had the Lady Augusta; yet Cadell failed, and whined that he had been ruined by competition . . . he did not stick to his Murray River business, but was running round seeking for notoriety and the limelight, and asking for concessions. Randell had not powerful moneyed friends, such as Cadell had; yet, undismayed by bad luck, Randell plugged on, stuck to the river, and succeeded. The Randells personally, and not by proxy, made a success of river navigation, and in so doing showed boldness, courage, and originality."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57916259 |title=Early Murray Rivermen |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=16 October 1920 |accessdate=10 September 2013 |page=11 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Saunders may have been alone in his campaign against the memory of Cadell. Those who knew the man, such as George Johnston, Thomas Goode and others such as John Lewis M.L.C. and W. J. Magarey had a much higher opinion of him.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57922721 |title=Early River Murray Men |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=30 September 1920 |accessdate=5 March 2014 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Saunders somehow acquired the board minutes of Cadell's River Murray Steam Navigation Company, and donated it to the Public Library of South Australia to put on the public record the "brilliant genius (of) Capt. Francis Cadell".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55153841 |title=Capt. Cadell's River Murray Navigation Company |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=8 January 1921 |accessdate=24 February 2014 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

In 1899 Saunders was elected to the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29512306 |title=Royal Geographical Society |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=25 August 1899 |access-date=1 March 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }}

Saunders had a good brain but a minimum of schooling, so found writing irksome, and he had no knowledge of record-keeping standards. This led to him developing his own systems, which required a minimum of writing and were highly effective, but incomprehensible to anyone else. He had a perfect memory for names, places and dates, but was incapable of memorising abstractions such as the conjugation of a simple French verb or the batting averages of a cricket player.

Saunders had a very jaundiced view of the Lutheran Church and the German people (at least those who came to South Australia and settled in places such as Hahndorf and Klemzig), finding them boorish and insular. Such sentiments found ready acceptance during the First World War.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59825463 |title=Early German Colonists |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=29 July 1916 |accessdate=17 February 2013 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

• Saunders, A. T. (1915) Bully Hayes : barrator, bigamist, buccaneer, blackbirder and pirate: An authentic life of William Henry Hayes of Ohio or New York City, born 1829, killed 1877 40 pp.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59606676 |title=Bully Hayes |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |volume=LXXX |issue=21,392 |location=South Australia |date=3 June 1915 |accessdate=30 October 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} published by Sunday Times, Perth, W.A. 1932.

• Comments about shipping; 1923 critique of an article by W.G.R., where he mentions around 100 ships and captains.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64177960 |title=Comments about Shipping by Mr. A. T. Saunders |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=29 March 1923 |accessdate=16 February 2013 |page=11 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• Comments on the usefulness or otherwise of shore-based lifeboats.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46851812 |title=Lifeboat for Glenelg. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=12 April 1932 |accessdate=18 February 2013 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}Includes details of the Admella rescue attempts.
• A long article on Bully Hayes{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63803478 |title=Bully Hayes the Pirate |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=30 August 1913 |accessdate=24 March 2014 |page=5 Section: Third Section |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• Criticism of Government purchase of overpriced swampland near Semaphore.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64042826 |title=Blundell the Bluffer |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=14 July 1917 |accessdate=6 July 2014 |page=19 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• Some early doctors{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62200643 |title=Some Early Doctors |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=1 May 1919 |accessdate=28 August 2014 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• History of The Advertiser{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73374925 |title=A Newspaper's History |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=19 July 1921 |accessdate=10 March 2015 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• Obituary for his old friend George Liversage Barrow.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64232954 |title=The Late Mr G. L Barrow |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |volume=XC |issue=26,430 |location=South Australia |date=11 September 1925 |accessdate=13 February 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• Medical progress, exemplified by the deaths of Dr. David Wark's family.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64133319 |title=Health Week |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=12 October 1922 |accessdate=23 April 2015 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• Naming of the suburb Semaphore{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55061759 |title=The Semaphore. |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=4 January 1928 |accessdate=3 May 2015 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• Buildings in old Port Adelaide{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74089227 |title=Old Buildings at the Port |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=18 December 1933 |accessdate=2 May 2015 |page=22 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• Some early schools{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62709950 |title=Old-Time Education |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |volume=LXXXV |issue=22,933 |location=South Australia |date=10 May 1920 |accessdate=26 December 2016 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• Early and curious burials{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59026227 |title=An Ancient Grave in Hindley Street |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |volume=LXXXIX |issue=26,086 |location=South Australia |date=5 August 1924 |accessdate=24 March 2019 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}

• His mother's sister Mrs. R. H. Allen (née Galway) (1829– ) who migrated to Sydney in 1837, first interested him in "Bully" Hayes.
• Thomas Allen, whom she married in 1850, was master and owner of the Swallow and Schah Jehan, and master of other ships.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63805056 |title=Old Memories |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=12 July 1913 |accessdate=24 March 2014 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• His cousin T. M. Allen (18 December 1859 – 1912) was master of the steamer Koombana, which was lost with all hands in March 1912.
• His father, Thomas Saunders (died 1856) was at one time master of the Margaret Brock and later harbormaster of Port Elliot.
• His brother William Henry Saunders (c. 1852 – 26 June 1928) was for many years town clerk of Port Adelaide.

On 13 September 1877 he married Helen Gordon Wald (c. 1855 – 7 December 1941), at one time a near neighbour in Queenstown. Among their children were:

• Helen Muriel Saunders (1878– ) married Percy Neville Wood in 1904, lived at North Adelaide
• Florence Margaret (or Margaret Florence) Sinclair Saunders (1880 – 12 August 1962)
• Thomas Allen Saunders (1881–1956) of North Adelaide
• Jessie Gordon Saunders (1885 – 15 July 1981) married Arthur Scholefield Mann in 1912
• Magnus Graham Saunders (1887–1956) of Leabrook

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Category:1854 births

Category:1940 deaths

Category:Australian historians

Category:Australian maritime historians

Category:History of Port Adelaide

Category:People from Queenstown, South Australia