Samuel Shumack was an early Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

 pioneer and Australian author.

He was born in Mallow

Mallow, County Cork

Mallow is the "Crossroads of Munster" and the administrative capital of north County Cork, in Ireland. The Northern Divisional Offices of Cork County Council are located in the town....

, County Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and moved to Australia with his family in 1856 where at the age of fifteen and with his father he took up a selection

Selection (Australian history)

Selection referred to "free selection before survey" of crown land in some Australian colonies under land legislation introduced in the 1860s. These acts were similar to the United States Homestead Act and were intended to encourage closer settlement, based on intensive agriculture, such as...

 at Weetangera. He farmed his land until it was resumed by the Commonwealth in 1915 to become part of the National Capital. He then moved to Ravensworth

Ravensworth

Ravensworth is a small village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north-west of Richmond and from Darlington. It is situated in the Holmedale valley and is in the ward of Gilling West...

 in the Hunter Valley

Hunter Valley

The Hunter Region, more commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney with an approximate population of 645,395 people. Most of the population of the Hunter Region lives within of the coast, with 55% of the entire...

 of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

where he died in 1940.

He wrote his autobiography in the late 1920s and it was finally published in 1967 as a definitive account of rural living in the Canberra district.