Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

- Researched and written by Anthony Stimson -

Sgt. Samuel Albert White (seated in photo adjacent), 30, was yet another St Peter’s old boy but he also attended Prince Alfred College and Christian Brothers College. White was a prominent landowner and horse breeder at Weetunga in Adelaide’s near west, land long since engulfed in the suburban sprawl as Fulham, and like his father was a distinguished ornithologist and naturalist. It is not clear why he volunteered. He is wearing a sergeant’s stripes in the attached photograph but only days later was commissioned as a lieutenant, notwithstanding the fact that he had no experience in the South Australian Military Forces.

Never short of an opinion, White proved to be a capable officer and the many letters he wrote home were full of colour and detail. He stayed on in South Africa when the contingent sailed for home in July 1901 and, promoted to captain, a rank he used for the rest of his life, was officer in charge at Colesberg in Cape Colony as the war came to an end. After the war he financed and led eight journeys of exploration into central Australia, discovered several species of birds, wrote extensively on ornithology and was an energetic Chief Scout for South Australia, taking charge of the 1924 Australian jamboree. White died in 1954. In 1989 Rob Linn published a biography entitled Nature's Pilgrim. The life and journeys of Captain S.A. White, naturalist, author and conservationist.