Crime and Justice

Amongst her many passengers, a number were either fleeing the law, returning to face justice, or were on the hunt for wanted men.

Aboard the Wimmera as she arrived in Hobart on Friday 9 March 1906 was one Robert Thomas Montague. Described as an elderly man, Montague, was arrested by police due to a warrant from New Zealand. He was a bankrupt and had left the country with £100, the property of his creditors. Montague faced the Police Court and was remanded for seven days, his application for bail being refused as a warrant for his arrest over an offence committed in New South Wales in 1901 was in existence.

The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954), Saturday 24 March 1906, page 5

On 26 August 1908 Constable Anderson and two prisoners embarked the Wimmera at Gisborne for a short passage to Napier.

Boarding the Wimmera at Gisborne for Auckland on 2 August 1913 was Constable Harrold and two [unnamed] prisoners. On the Wimmera’s arrival in Auckland she took on Constable Murphy for passage to Sydney on 4 August. He was proceeding to Sydney to act as escort for Frank Stewart who had been arrested in Sydney on the charge of wife desertion.