Samuel Rogers was the third son of William and Ann Rogers, and was six years old when the family arrived in South Australia in 1839 and settled east of Adelaide, establishing the Tusmore Run. In 1851 William Rogers acquired leases on Yorke Peninsula including land in the Maitland and Kilkerran areas. After his death three years later, his widow, and sons Thomas William and Samuel, continued to manage the growing estates and increase their holdings on the peninsula.

Samuel married Sarah Elizabeth Gardiner in August 1867, and established their home at Ynoo, near the head of the Yorke Valley, and close to the future town of Maitland. Thomas William and Samuel also leased the Urania run, as well as other properties further to the south, including at Corny Point.

The Surveyor-General George Goyder in a state-wide survey and evaluation of pastoral properties during 1865 assessed the Yorke Valley run as holding 20,000 sheep and 55 head of horses, well over the estimated grazing capacity of 7900 sheep. Goyder recorded the land as 'miles of swamp with samphire, mesembryantheum, and small patches of grass, 8 miles scrub of oak, dwarf mallee, scrub tea tree, a few bushes, herbs, mesembryantheum, very little grass ... The run is badly watered, there being but two places where fresh water has been obtained on the Point Pearce run ... and two wells at the head station on the Yorke Valley run, consequently upwards of two-thirds of the entire area is available for stock during the winter months only.' (quoted in Heinrich p. 34)

Samuel and his wife, once established at Ynoo, made improvements and the two brick-lined wells were powered by horse to draw water up from over 50 feet. The home was elegantly fitted out with Brussels carpet, cedar cupboards, a large library of books and a piano. A large garden for fruit, vegetables and flowers supplied the family's needs with some of the surplus being sold in Moonta.

When the town of Maitland was established Samuel was appointed the first Justice of the Peace, was president of the Institute Committee, and active in the Church of England. He is commemorated in the names of the town's streets, notably Rogers Terrace and Samuel Street.

Subsequent to his wife's death Samuel sold Ynoo in 1888 and moved to Edwardstown in Adelaide where he died in July 1891.

Rogers, Samuel, 1833-1891

Rogers, Walter, 1838-1871

Cockburn, Rodney, Pastoral pioneers of South Australia [Facsimile ed.] indexed by A. Dorothy Aldersey Blackwood, S.A.: Lynton Publications, [1974] vol. 1, pp. 110-111

Heinrich, Rhoda Governor Fergusson's legacy: a history of the early days of the Maitland-Kilkerran districts Adelaide: [Maitland-Kilkerran Centenary Committee], 1972

Souvenir of Yorke Peninsula: embodying Maitland, Ardrossan, Kilkerran, Port Victoria, Minlaton, Curramulka, Port Vincent, Stansbury, Yorketown, Edithburgh and their environs: the land of the golden grain, described and illustrated Adelaide: O. Ziegler, 1921