Using his personal collection of newspaper clippings, and only his memory of its contents to find relevant articles, he came to be regarded as South Australia's unofficial historian, with a particular interest in the sea and River Murray.

[1] 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.

[2] 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.

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.

[2] 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.

[5] 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.

[5] 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.

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.

After making a public plea in The Register, he was able to identify, with the help of John Lewis, who met her in 1867,[6] the author as Matilda Wallace, née Hill.

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,[16] but failed to impeach Vaughan, Blundell and Goode, who issued Saunders with a writ for libel.

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 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.

[2] 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.