"In the 1830s, when Sam arrived in Australia, he was engaged by Messrs Weller Brothers, shipowners in Sydney, a trading firm with extensive whaling interests in Otago. In 1838, Weller Bros. decided to establish a station at Timaru, and Sam, as part of the original party, came out in the firm's sailing vessel Caroline. A small party appears to have been operating there in 1839, but the main party brought over from Australia in the barque Sarah Ann Elizabeth did not arrive until April 1840. Octavius Harwood, foreman and clerk at Weller’s Otago Station, records Samuel Williams as being leader of this party and boat steersman and harpooner at the new station—a rather responsible position for one so young.
Some years ago, Councillor Mathers, on behalf of the Timaru City Council, acquired an old try-pot that had once been used at Patiti Point Station. This, along with other relics of the primal industry, is to be found on a concrete pedestal in Caroline Bay Domain. It could be that those whaling implements were handled by Samuel Williams. Adverse reports on the 1840 whaling season, coupled with the financial difficulties of Weller Brothers, Sydney, were accepted as the reason for the closing down of their Timaru Station about March 1841—eleven months after its establishment. The whole of the shore party had of necessity to disperse to other whaling posts, some going to Otago, but the majority went to Banks Peninsula where they were engaged by Hempleman at his Paraki Station. Williams accompanied the party north, where his experience as a whaler was again in demand, for he was given charge of the Island Bay Fishery then owned by the Greenwoods. In 1848, he transferred to George Rhodes' station at Goashore (Akaroa), where he remained until his departure for Australia.
The year 1849 saw preparations under way for the reception of the Canterbury Association Pioneers. Their agent and chief surveyor, Captain Joseph Thomas, then engaged on a comprehensive survey of the Canterbury Block, required first-hand information concerning the resources of the land extending south of the Association’s territory. He requested the enterprising surveyor Charles Torlesse to undertake this task. Before setting out on his mission, Torlesse consulted Samuel Williams, then living at Goashore, Akaroa Peninsula, regarding the nature of the land in South Canterbury.
Upon his return in April 1849, Torlesse stayed with Captain Stokes at Akaroa Peninsula, where he wrote his report which included an account of the magnificent tracts of sheep country awaiting development in South Canterbury. Rhodes’ Station on the Peninsula was a pivotal point for travellers in those days, so we conclude the brothers had from Torlesse a first-hand account of land opportunities in the regions he explored. This report, coupled with the convincing opinion of Williams and other whalers, influenced the Rhodes to invest in the potentialities of the Timaru district and make their exploratory and notable journey south. They were seeking land well away from the hampering restrictions of the Canterbury Association, which under its charter would exercise jurisdiction over Banks Peninsula where the Rhodes' property was located.
No one knew better than Samuel Williams the extent and potential of the vast unoccupied areas of South Canterbury. In 1850, he escorted his friends George and probably Barney Rhodes overland to the first-class pastoral areas in the vicinity of Timaru. Afterwards, they sought a licence for 150,000 acres in all, and it is reported that Samuel Williams, for a short period, was caretaker of this property. Although neither by training nor inclination was he fitted for a farmer, in some measure it can be claimed that he played a part in the establishment of the pastoral industry of South Canterbury.
The discovery of gold at Ballarat in 1851 fired Williams' adventurous spirit once more and no doubt he trekked to Australia that year. There is no record of his being married before he left New Zealand, and as his daughter Rebecca was born in Ballarat in 1854, we must conclude he married Ann Manry shortly after his arrival in Australia.
Like many another on the goldfields, Williams was undoubtedly disappointed and disillusioned and sought the earliest opportunity to return to Timaru. Henry Sewell, financial adviser to the Canterbury Association, records in his journal (February 1856) that he spent a night alone in Rhodes' old cottage, so we assume that it was after this date that Williams arrived. George Rhodes, then living at “The Levels,” welcomed his old friend and gave him the daub cottage on Caroline Bay beach. Here, in this first dwelling, to Timaru’s first permanent residents, Samuel and Ann Williams, was born the first white child, William Williams, on September 22, 1856. His cradle was a gin case.
"Colonel O. A. Gillespie, in his book South Canterbury: A Record of Settlement, gives a clear picture of this first pioneer cottage. He writes that when George Rhodes and his employees erected a small cottage on Timaru Beach in 1851, there was not a single habitation between Lake Ellesmere and the Waitaki River. This was the first house erected in South Canterbury and was a simple structure of battens tied to posts, the outside plastered with clay and the roof thatched with tussock. It stood just south of the seaward end of George Street in front of the present Loan and Mercantile Agency Company’s store. The site was indicated by a suitable plaque placed in George Street in 1955.
The following year, 1857, was notable, for Archdeacon Harper on his first journey south from Christchurch to Moeraki was hospitably received by the entire white population of Timaru—Samuel Williams, his wife, and son. The Archdeacon makes no mention of the daughter Rebecca, who must have been somewhere in the vicinity. This proves that the old whaler and his family were the first permanent citizens of Timaru and the fact that they were living in the township’s first primitive dwelling is of double historical significance. In his “Letters” dated September 1857, Harper writes: “I rode towards the sea coast not liking to lose my way inland and coming on a bay enclosed by low cliffs, found a solitary hut occupied by an old whaler, his wife and son.” Mrs Williams gave him dinner and he records also: “Sam Williams showed me some of the try-pots still remaining on the beach and I spent a pleasant hour with him listening to his yarns of old days.” Before the Archdeacon proceeded on his way to Waimate, Williams gave him directions to avoid swamps and creeks along the track. It was Archdeacon Harper who christened Williams’ son.
The first sheep were brought to the Rhodes’ “Levels” Station in 1851 and thereafter Canterbury land was rapidly opened up for pastoral purposes. Stations had their quota of shepherds, farm hands, and servants, all of whom formed the nucleus of a scattered township which was surveyed by Government officials in 1856. Up till this time, the duty of supplying the travelling public with accommodation fell upon station owners, but the steady increase in the number of land seekers, Government officials, surveyors etc., created a demand for proper accommodation houses. To meet the needs of this growing population, Samuel Williams and his wife converted their cob cottage into a general store and offered accommodation to a number of early travellers, among whom were Henry Sewell, Dr Rayner, Charles Torlesse, Samuel Hewlings, Mr Woollcombe, and many others. Itinerant travellers had good reason to remember the high prices charged for a night’s board and lodging, which consisted of tea, mutton, leavened bread, and a couple of blankets for a doss down in rough bunks. If those were occupied, there was no alternative but the bare floor.
In April the following year, Williams applied for and was granted the first publican’s licence. In 1858 there were only four accommodation houses in the Timaru district—those of John Giles at Orari, Joseph Deans at Arowhenua, Henry Cain, and Samuel Williams of Timaru. The first three were granted Provincial accommodation licences, but Samuel Williams, who had been operating as a publican (without a licence), was finally legitimised.
It was during the middle 1860s that things went awry in Williams’ domestic affairs. About 1860 his wife Ann (née Manry) collapsed and died at the doorway of Timaru Hotel. Her death was a great loss to him, depriving him of the stability and sound guidance his restless nature required. In 1861, he married Mary Ann Gardner, the governess of his children. Of this marriage, there was one child—Emily. The disparity of 25 years between their ages created situations that proved too much for the old whaler. Disharmony followed, and Williams resorted to the Court to claim outstanding debts. In February 1865, he sold his Timaru Hotel interest to John Melton and left the town for some years. The Deed of Sale is now regarded as an historical record. It has been framed and is exhibited in the Timaru Public Library.
Later, Williams became licensee of a hotel at Birdling Flat and Hotel Wellington in Christchurch (now part of P & D Duncan buildings). Both were prosperous businesses in those rough and pioneering days when men drank heavily and hotels were the only places of entertainment. He remained in Christchurch for some years but ultimately returned to his old haunts where he died. He was buried in Timaru, just inside the cemetery gates and to the rear of the caretaker’s house. A blue stone over his grave states that he died June 29th 1883, age 64 years. The stone was erected by a few friends of the deceased, who was the oldest resident and pioneer of Timaru."