Story
History in the making
words clem stanley
PHOTOGRAPHY sam kroepsch
If you’ve been to the Anlaby Spring Festival in recent years, or passed by the streets of Eudunda on a weekend during the SA History Festival, you may have noticed a large crowd of people with their attention fixed on a young historian by the name of Samuel Doering.
With one of those smiles that beams to a remarkable radius, Sam is more than just charismatic – he is a walking and talking treasure trove of historical knowledge and passion for the past.
Even on a 10-minute tour of his home town at Eudunda, Sam imparts an abundance of information about the small town, a depth of detail that goes way beyond any signboard snapshot, a scope of knowledge matched by equal enthusiasm.
Although his parents say he has grown out of his childhood habit of not taking no for an answer, it would seem that even now – at just 25-years-old – there isn’t much that stops Sam from pursuing what he sets his mind to; from studying abroad, learning the German language, publishing multiple books or even painting his living room dark green. He is a rare balance of talk and action.
And this is before we delve into the unfinished business currently in the works – it’s a long list.
Sam shared that his fascination with the past began while growing up on his parents’ farm at Neales Flat, just south of Eudunda, living in a 1959 house with a large garden, fruit trees and even the shearing shed all within a stone’s throw of the front door.
As most farming childhoods go, Sam remembers early mornings cleaning troughs for sheep, late nights rugging up the Santa Gertrudis cattle (a Doering specialty) and plenty of travel to agricultural shows across the state.
He recalls his earliest love of history, manifested after hearing accounts from the local area, like how the farm did in particular years with the harvest and rainfall, which then sparked an interest in what other stories may be out there. His stories are the workings of a curious mind let loose.
While TV shows like Horrible Histories and period dramas are always a formative part of any young history buff’s early life, there was one film in particular that Sam remembers gripping his fascination.
“I had a great passion for the Titanic growing up, genuinely…I mean I had dozens of books on the Titanic and I watched the movie endlessly,” Sam said.
“Mum actually got a little bit annoyed because we only had a small TV in the kitchen, it wasn’t like a big flat screen TV, so I’d be glued to the screen continuously watching the Titanic and Mum was trying to make dinner or preserve fruit or make sauce or whatever else.
“…it was slightly morbid but it was really fascinating.”
It wasn’t long before Sam went in search of local stories, joining the Eudunda Family Heritage Gallery as a volunteer at age 12, making him the youngest member at the time by about 50 years.
Sam explained that his Mum used to drop him at neighbour Fay Grosser’s place as she would give him a lift, saying: “Then we’d drive into the gallery, spend an afternoon there sorting through photographs, talking to people, writing captions, organising displays, all sorts,” Sam said.
“And then Fay would drive me home thereafter…that was the way until I got my driver’s license.”
Sam’s appetite for yesteryear only grew at high school, where under the guidance of his teachers at Faith Lutheran College, he won multiple history awards, the prizes for which meant he got to travel far and wide, from Canberra to Vietnam.
For a 16-year-old from Neales Flat who had never been on a plane before, Sam said: “it was really the beginning of opening up my eyes about what history could do.”
With a wide world of opportunity now within his sights, Sam certainly had great ambitions post schooling and ended up at the New College of Humanities in the United Kingdom in 2018, studying History and English.
While the campus has since moved elsewhere, at the time it was in London’s Bedford Square, right next to The British Museum.
“It was fantastic, it was a historian’s paradise…the spot to be!” Sam said.
His first year at university was steeped in studies on different historical periods, and poetry nights where Sam was eager to share works by Australian poets like Banjo Patterson.
Of course, these great halls of academia still came with the usual wild experiences that university life brings, Sam assured, along with the fascination that comes with being a country-raised Australian scholar abroad.
It would have been very easy in the bright lights of London’s great academics, to forget all about small-town South Australia.
But Sam stayed well-connected with home, remaining an active member of the Heritage Gallery throughout his time abroad.
“Thinking back, there was a little bit of a fear, and I had spoken to a lot of people about this at the time, that when I got to the UK, I would completely forget Australia and not want to come back,” Sam said.
“I suppose, coming from a community like this where you know everybody, possibly related to everybody as well, but you’ve had a long-standing connection here, I didn’t want to forget this place.
“So, I suppose as a reaction to sort of allay that fear I decided to keep my finger in the pie and keep trying to help as I could while I was in the UK, so I suppose it was a determination to ensure that I didn’t forget my roots.”
“(I’m) trying to make it personal and bring these people to life and you know, get a little bit passionate as well, as I often do along the way.”
- Samuel Doering
Unfortunately, however, things were abruptly interrupted by the arrival of COVID-19 on UK shores in early 2020.
After completing the remainder of his studies by in-person classes and Zoom, from an aunt’s house in Germany, Sam graduated with First-Class Honours and, unsurprisingly, an award for history.
Not long after graduation, Sam began a now infamous seven-week journey home, with cancelled flights, multiple countries and hotel quarantine – all to make it back to Eudunda in time for the town’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 2021.
Not long after his return to Australia, Sam began working at the historic Anlaby Station at Hamilton, near Kapunda. Initially an extra employee for the Spring Festival in 2021, he now holds the dual titles of Tour Guide and Historian.
Anyone who fears that the titles would isolate Sam to historical specialties should know that in true country form, when an extra pair of hands are needed, he is happy to pick weeds, work in the kitchen or serve canapes at weddings.
Of course, he is equally at home fossicking among 45 metres of shelves at the State Library dedicated to preserving Anlaby’s history.
Speaking on his own style of touring, Sam likes to paint a picture of the people that once lived at a place like Anlaby, inviting them into the personal world behind the grand buildings and vast gardens.
“(I’m) trying to make it personal and bring these people to life and you know, get a little bit passionate as well, as I often do along the way,” Sam said.
“The risk is I can talk all day about that place because there are so many stories there and I’m learning at the same time…it’s always good fun.”
Whether it’s at Anlaby, or on the streets of Eudunda, one of Sam’s goals has always been to deliver and breathe new life into history for the masses to enjoy, helping the public to navigate the sprawling depths of information that are out there.
“…or as I said with Jason Chong on the ABC, being a historian is sexy! Which was sort of a throwaway line at the time but the more you think about it, it’s not wrong,” Sam said.
“It is exciting and engaging and there’s lots of interesting things to find.”
With ambitions to appear on television, or on podcasts, authoring more books, an enormous list of local projects, a PHD on the horizon and potentially even a future in politics – Sam is very much entrenched in creating the new chapters of history as much as reading the old ones.
One piece of advice after reading, hang on to this copy of the magazine – one day it may be viewed as an early relic of a renowned historian with a beaming smile from Neales Flat by the name of Samuel Doering.
