Entertainers

The following people and groups, from across the entertainment field, including musicians, singers and actors, were passengers on the SS Wimmera:

William Anderson’s Dramatic Company – A Sailor’s Sweetheart – December 1904
Fisk Jubilee Singers – December 1904
J. C. Williamson’s Dramatic Company / Knight-Jeffries – February 1905
- Julius Knight (actor) (also May 1907)
- Maud Jeffries (actress)
- Rose Pendennis (actress)
- Arthur Wontner (actor)
Fitzgerald Brothers’ Circus – March 1905
- The Ashton Family (acrobats)
- Japanese Wrestlers
George Musgrove’s English Dramatic Company March & August 1905
- Mrs Maesmore Morris (actress)
- Nellie Stewart (actress) (also January 1911)
George Musgrove (theatre entrepreneur) – April 1905, July 1909, January 1911
Tom Pollard (theatre entrepreneur) – September 1905
Te Rangi Pai (singer) – February 1906
J. C. Williamson’s Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company – March 1906
Andrew Black (singer) – April 1906 / May 1907
Harry Rickards’ Vaudeville Company – October 1906
- Harry Bedford
- Olive Lenton
Blanche Arral (singer) – January 1907
J. C. Williamson (theatre entrepreneur) – February 1907
Bonita and Cleopatra (vaudeville artists) – May 1907
Leopold Premyslav (violinist) – May 1907
Marie Hall (violinist) – June/July 1907
Madame Emma Albani (singer) – August 1907
Haydn Wood (violinist) – August 1907
Hugh Ward (actor/theatre entrepreneur) – September 1907 / November-December 1909
Ben Fuller (theatre entrepreneur) – October 1907
J. C. Williamson’s Pantomime Company – Humpty Dumpty – July 1908
- Bert Gilbert (comic actor)
The Kilties Band – November 1908
Royal Welsh Male Choir – April 1909
J. C. Williamson’s Royal Comic Opera Company – Merry Widow et al – May 1909
- Claude Bantock (actor)
- Fanny Dango (actress)
- William Stratford Percy (actor) (also January 1911)
- Reginald Roberts (actor) (also January 1911)
Chung Ling Soo (magician/conjurer/illusionist) – July 1909
Grace Palotta (actress) November-December 1909
Madame Emma Calve (singer) – August 1910
Galileo Gasparri (singer) – August 1910
J. C. Williamson’s New Comic Opera Company – The Dollar Princess et al – January 1911
Katherine Grey (actress) – February 1911
William Desmond (actor) – February 1911
Mademoiselle Antonia Dolores (singer) – April 1911
The Sheffield Choir – June 1911
- Henry Coward (conductor)
J. C. Williamson’s Pantomime Company – Jack and the Beanstalk – July 1911
Tom Walls (actor) – September 1911
Maud Courtney (actress) – May 1912
Finlay Currie (actor) – May 1912
Brennan-Fuller Vaudeville Company
- The Pechilli Troupe of Chinese Acrobats (aka The Pechillis) – August 1912
The Smart Set (performers) – May 1913
J. C. Williamson’s Company – The Man Who Stayed at Home – October 1915
J. C. Williamson’s Royal Comic Opera Company – The Pink Lady – November/December 1917
- Gladys Moncrieff (singer/actress)

Julius Knight

The English actor Julius Knight was a passenger aboard the Wimmera on at least two occasions – the first being in February 1905.

Te Rangi Pai

The New Zealand contralto Fanny Rose Howie (nee Porter / Poata) but better known by her stage name “Te Rangi Pai” was a passenger aboard the ss Wimmera early in 1906. The singer who was then aged 38, was returning to New Zealand following a visit to Australia. Leaving Sydney aboard the Wimmera just after…

Nellie Stewart

In the middle of the herb garden at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens is located a memorial plaque to one of Australia’s most popular stage actresses. Born in Woolloomooloo in 1858, Eleanor Towzey Stewart, better known as ‘Nellie’ became a household name during her career in song and on stage which lasted over .. years. Nellie…

J.C. Williamson

J.C. (James Cassius) Williamson (1845-1913) On Saturday 2 February 1907 J. C. Williamson sailed from Sydney for Wellington, New Zealand aboard the Maheno. It was to be Williamson’s first planned visit to that city and others for 25 years. According to newspaper reports, his trip was timed to coincide with the (tour) of the Royal…

Grace Palotta

Viennese-born singer and actress Grace Palotta (1870-1959), sailed from Sydney aboard the Wimmera on Saturday 7 September 1907 together with Messrs Willoughby, Ward and Company. They arrived in Wellington, New Zealand on 11 September where they were to open a season of the play “Mr Hopkinson.” The company had concluded a successful season in Australia…

Bert Gilbert

The voyage undertaken by the English comedian, Bert Gilbert (aka Gilbert Joseph Hazlewood) and his wife Dolly (Dolly Daintree aka Fanny Humphries) was particularly unpleasant. Gilbert was a member of J.C. Williamson’s Pantomime Company and was bound from Australia to New Zealand for a season of performances in the Dominion. The couple boarded the Wimmera…

Marie Hall

Among the artists, performers and musicians to grace the decks of the Wimmera was English violinist Marie Hall who visited New Zealand in 1907 during a World Tour. She departed Sydney aboard the Wimmera on 29 June 1907 and arrived at Wellington on 3 July. Miss Marie Hall, the talented violinist, who arrived in Wellington…

Blanche Arral

The Belgian-born opera singer Mademoiselle Blanche Arral performed in Australia and New Zealand during 1906-1908. She first arrival in Australia at Fremantle aboard the French mail boat, the S.S. Sultan on 17 June 1906 from Surabaya, Java. After a brief stopover she continued on her journey to Melbourne via Adelaide aboard the SS Riverina. Blanche…

Emma Albani

The Canadian soprano Madame Emma Albani was a saloon passenger on the Wimmera, departing Hobart, Tasmania for Bluff, New Zealand on 23 August 1907. She was accompanied by her husband, Ernest Gye, their maid and other members of her company.Fellow saloon passengers bound for Bluff from Hobart also were Miss Bonnily, Miss & Master Ferrar,…

Emma Calve

Another ‘Madame Emma” who graced the stages of Australia and New Zealand in the early 1900’s was the French diva Madame Emma Calve. Hers was also a long career yet her first and only tour to the Antipodes came when the singer was 51 years of age. Calve arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia from Marseilles…

Gladys Moncrieff

As a cast member of J.C. Williamson’s Royal Comic Opera Company, Gladys Moncrieff, returned to Sydney from Auckland on 3 December 1917 aboard the SS Wimmera. The Company had just completed a brief season of performances in New Zealand which began in late October. The Company’s productions during their tour of the Dominion included The…

Chung Ling Soo

Chung Ling Soo aka William Ellesworth Robinson aka a magician, a conjurer, an illusionist and a ”Man of Mystery” was one of the Wimmera‘s more enigmatic passengers. On 16 February 1909 the renowned ‘Chinese’ conjurer Chung Ling Soo arrived on Australia’s shores aboard the R.M.S. Moldavia at the start of his one and only, but highly…

The Sheffield Choir

In 1911 the Sheffield Choir of Sheffield, England undertook a world tour in what was described as the “First Musical Festival of the British Empire”. Leaving Liverpool on 17 March 1911, they proceeded first to the United States and then Canada. From Vancouver they crossed the Pacific aboard the s.s. Zealandia to Brisbane, arriving on…

Bonita & Cleopatra

Sisters Cleopatra, the snake charmer, and Bonita, the crack rifle shot, joined the Wimmera in Sydney on 25 May 1907 bound for Wellington where they arrived on 29 May. Fellow passengers on the same voyage included the ‘Polish violin virtuoso’ Leopold Premyslav and singer Andrew Black together with supporting acts. Cleopatra (aka Harriet Drescher) and…

Carrie Moore

Members of the Carrie Moore Company that arrived in Auckland from Sydney on 11 November 1912 included: Carrie MOORE Percy CLIFTON Arthur ALBERT Florence HILLIER The Lausannes Kennedy BLACK Iris EDGAR Percy DALTON Lily MOORE (male impersator) Productions staged by the Company on this tour included: ‘Chips’

Leopold Premyslav

The ‘Polish violin virtuoso’ Leopold Premyslav had boarded the Australia-bound P&O liner Himalaya in Colombo on the completion of a tour of India and Ceylon. He arrived in Melbourne, via Fremantle on Monday 25 March 1907. At the time of his visit Premyslav was about 24 years of age. He appeared on the same bill…

Royal Welsh Male Choir

Royal Welsh Male Choir The Royal Welsh Male Choir embarked the s.s. Wimmera in Auckland on Monday 19 April 1909. Bound for Sydney, their voyage came at the culmination of the New Zealand leg of their Colonial Tour.

The Kilties

The 42 members of the Kilties Band of Bellville, Ontario, Canada boarded the SS Wimmera in Sydney on Wednesday 11 November 1908 and arrived at Auckland on 15 November. Their arrival was reported in the New Zealand Herald: “THE KILTIES. Between 5000 and 6000 persons gathered at the Quay-street Jetty last evening to witness the…

Mrs Maesmore Morris

Mrs Maesmore Morris was a passenger aboard the SS Wimmera departing Sydney on Saturday 11 March 1905 and arrived at Wellington on Wednesday March 15 1905. Remaining on board the Wimmera she continued her journey to Port Chalmers / Dunedin where she arrived on Saturday 18 March 1905. At that time Mrs Maesmore Morris was…

Hadyn Wood

Accompanying Madame Emma Albani on her tour of Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India in 1907 was 28 year-old British violinist and composer Haydn Wood.

Maud Jeffries

The actress Maud Jeffries embarked the Wimmera at Bluff, New Zealand on 13 February 1905. Together with her husband, James Nott-Osborne, and other members of the Knight-Jeffries Dramatic Company, Maud was bound for Melbourne at the end of the Company’s New Zealand season of performance.

Fisk Jubilee Singers

On Friday 16 December 1904, the African-American singing group the Fisk Jubilee Singers departed Hobart for New Zealand aboard the SS Wimmera. They arrived at their destination, Dunedin, on Wednesday 21 December. The group which had just performed in various locations in Tasmania were to conduct a tour of NZ lasting four months and over…

Andrew Black

Glasgow-born baritione singer, Andrew Black, was a passenger aboard the SS Wimmera on two voyages to New Zealand.

Tom Walls

On 2 February 1910 the English musical comedy actor Tom Kirby Walls aka Tom Walls married in Lambeth, London to actress Alice Hilda Edwards. Two days later, on 4 February the couple had embarked the Orient liner Orsova, together with other performers, for engagements in Australasia. The Orsova arrived in Fremantle on Tuesday 8 March…

Hugh Ward

The American-born actor and theatre entrepreneur, Hugh Joseph Ward, was a passenger aboard the Wimmera on two voyages – in September 1907 and in November-December 1909.

Arthur Wontner

The English actor Arthur Wontner (born Arthur Wontner Smith) was a passenger aboard the ss Wimmera, together with other members of Williamson Dramatic Company, when the ship departed Lyttelton for Melbourne on February 12 1905. The Wimmera called at Bluff and Hobart before arriving at Melbourne on Saturday 18 February 1905.

The Pechilli Troupe of Chinese Acrobats

On 20 May 1912, the North German Lloyd (NDL) steamer Seydlitz arrived in the Western Australian port of Fremantle from Bremen via the ports of Southampton, Genoa, Naples and Colombo. Aboard the ship were 23-year-old manager Mrs Poldi Lang and her 2-year-old daughter Mina Lang. They had boarded the ship at Genoa. Poldi, or Leopoldine,…

Mademoiselle Antonia Dolores

Antoinette Charlotte Alexandrina Zelie Bettina aka Mademoiselle Antonia Dolores was a passenger aboard the Wimmera in April 1911. She boarded the Wimmera in Napier and arrived in Gisborne at 6.30pm on the evening of Saturday 15 April.

Katherine Grey

The American actress Katherine Grey was a passenger aboard the ss Wimmera in 1911. Together with other members of the ‘Katherine Grey Co.’ under the management of J. C. Williamson, they were undertaking a tour of New Zealand and had completed a short season at Gisborne on 17 February 1911 before boarding the Wimmera the…

William Stratford Percy

Melbourne-born comic actor William Stratford Percy was a passenger on the ss Wimmera on two occasions and both times as a member of a J. C. Williamson touring company. In April 1909 J. C. Williamson’s Royal Comic Opera Company aka The Merry Widow Company arrived in Wellington aboard the Moana at the beginning of their…