A. T. Saunders
Alfred Thomas Saunders (4 September 1854 – 3 November 1940) was an accountant and amateur historian of the early days of South Australia, with a particular interest in the sea and River Murray. Working with his own remarkable collection of chronological but un-indexed notes, an incredible memory and a passion for facts clearly stated, he came to be regarded as South Australia's unofficial historian. By engaging in controversy, he attracted a wide following. On many occasions he challenged writings by famous writers and public figures, including Joseph Conrad, who became something of a friend. History. 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. 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, South Australia in the house his grandfather William Galway built in 1859, then the only two-storey house in the area, later owned by Frank Coleman. Young Alfred, after only two years' schooling, began work in 1867 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. 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. 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. Bully Hayes. 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 Mr. Saunders' record of some old time sailing ship. Joseph Conrad. He once wrote to Joseph Conrad, pointing out an error that the author had made, and after Conrad had written acknowledging the mistake, a correspondence sprang up between them. Conrad visited South Australia as mate of the ship "Torrens" in 1893. Saunders noticed the name John  Galsworthy among the passenger list of The "Torrens", and wrote to Conrad to ascertain if the Galsworthy mentioned was the author. Conrad replied that it was. Conrad visited South Australia a few years later in the "Otago". The visit was recalled in a letter by Conrad to Saunders: German settlement in South Australia. 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 Pastor Kavel's people from Posen. Kavel had been ungrudging in his gratitude to the English and Dutton in particular. The libel case. On 12 January 1918, The South Australian Register published a letter 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, 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, but the writ was withdrawn. A. T. Saunders, Captain Cadell and the Randells. Saunders had a very jaundiced view of the personality and achievements of Francis Cadell, comparing him unfavourably with Charles Sturt and William Randell  and accusing him of "childish vanity" and 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." Saunders may have been alone in his campaign against the memory of Cadell. Those who knew the man, such as George Johnston  and Thomas Goode and others such as John Lewis M.L.C. and W. J. Magarey had a much better opinion of him. 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". In 1899 Saunders was elected to the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia. Critiques. 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, South Australia), finding them boorish and insular. Such sentiments found ready acceptance during World War I. On 13  September 1877 he married Helen Gordon Wald (ca.1855 – 7 December 1941), at one time a near neighbour in Queenstown. Among their children were: