The Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, the Right Reverend Dr. George Michael Lenihan, was a passenger on the ss Wimmera on at least two occasions.
The first was when he joined the Wimmera in Wellington, together with the Reverend Fathers Keogh, Patterson, Power and Spence, and sailed for Lyttelton on 9 February 1905. Aboard the Wimmera also, from Sydney, was the Coadjutor-Archbishop of Sydney, Michael Kelly, who, with Bishop Lenihan was proceeding to Christchurch for the ceremony of the dedication of the city’s new Roman Catholic Cathedral on Sunday 12 February.
The Wimmera arrived at Lyttelton the following morning, at 9.50 am Friday 10 February.
The second known occasion of the Bishop’s travel aboard the Wimmera was in 1909. He was in Sydney attending the third Australasian Catholic Congress, having arrived there by Huddart Parker’s Victoria on 24 September. At the completion of the Congress, he joined the Wimmera on 13 October for his return voyage to Auckland where the ship arrived on the 17th.
Postcard. Author’s Collection.
SS Wimmera 