William Callender, the General Manager of the Bank of New Zealand,  left Wellington for Sydney aboard the Union Steamship Co’s steamer Maheno on 25 October 1907. He arrived in the New South Wales capital on 29 October.

He departed Sydney aboard the ss Wimmera just over three weeks later on Saturday 16 November. The ship cleared Sydney Heads at 3.00pm that afternoon and arrived at the port in Wellington just after 12.30pm on Wednesday 20 November 1907.

Callender, who had been appointed to his position in October 1906 following the resignation of the previous General Manager, had formerly been the Government Auditor of the Bank of New Zealand. Prior to that he had occupied a number of positions within the Bank.

He was born in St Kilda, Melbourne on 5 November 1855 and, at the age of 12,  moved to Christchurch with his parents and six siblings arriving at Lyttelton  aboard the ss Omeo on 22 January 1868.

In Christchurch he continued his schooling before taking a position in the city’s branch of the Bank of New Zealand on 17 January 1870 at the age of only 14 years.

He advanced to clerk and in 1881 was appointed assistant accountant in the inspector’s office – necessitating a move to Auckland. He was appointed accountant in 1888 and in 1890 promoted to visiting officer (sub-inspector).

In November 1892 he was transferred from Auckland to Wanganui where he had been appointed manager.

In 1895 he was made Assistant Inspector before being appointed as manager at Timaru. A promotion to District Inspector based in Auckland occurred in 1899 prior to his appointment as Auditor of the Bank in March 1904.

At the time of his retirement in January 1920 he had been with the Bank for fifty years with nearly 13 years as General Manager.