Sports and Competition

The following people, from across the fields of sport, physical endeavour and competition, were passengers on the SS Wimmera:

Emmeline Freda Du Faur (mountaineer) February 1905
Richard (Dick) Arnst (cyclist/rower) March 1905 / April 1906 / July 1906
Japanese wrestlers March 1905
Harry Parker (tennis player) November 1905
Bernard Cyril Freyberg (swimmer) December 1905
New Zealand “All Whites” Bowling Team November 1906
Peter Randall Johnson (cricketer) December 1906
William “Bill” Squires (boxer) March 1907 / December 1908
Alexander Drummond Campbell (angler/fisherman) 1908 / 1909 / 1910 / 1912
New Zealand Maori Rugby League Team July 1908 / July 1909
Lancelot Beaumont Todd (footballer) July 1909
Alfred Jordan (draughts player) October 1910
Jack Donaldson (runner) March 1912
Tom Reece (billiards player) August 1912
Jack Crawford (cricketer) April 1915

Emmeline Freda Du Faur

Both the first and second woman to ascend Mount Cook in New Zealand’s Southern Alps were, at separate times, passengers aboard the ss Wimmera.

Lancelot Beaumont Todd

New Zealand footballer and former All Blacks player Lancelot Beaumont Todd aka L. B. or Lance Todd was a passenger aboard the Wimmera in July 1909.

Bill Squires

Heavyweight boxing champion of Australia, William “Bill” Squires and his manager Barney Reynolds were passengers on the Wimmera on its departure from Sydney for Auckland on Wednesday 6 March 1907.

Peter Randall Johnson

New Zealand-born cricketer Peter Randall Johnson was a member of the touring English Cricket Team in 1906-07 and a passenger on the Wimmera in December 1906

Jack Donaldson

World Champion Australian sprinter, Jack Donaldson, journeyed to and from Auckland and Sydney in 1912, both voyages aboard the Wimmera.

Maori Rugby League Team

The SS Wimmera conveyed members of the All Maori Rugby Football Team between Sydney and Auckland in 1908 and 1909.

Dick Arnst

New Zealand-born Jacob Diedrich Arnst aka Richard or Dick Arnst was first a champion cyclist and later a champion sculler. He was first a passenger on board the Wimmera on its departure from Lyttelton on 3 March 1905.

“All Whites” NZ Bowling Team

In 1906 a team of 38 New Zealand lawn bowlers, known as the “All Whites”, conducted a tour of Australia. The returned to New Zealand aboard the Wimmera.

Read more “All Whites” NZ Bowling Team

Alfred Jordan

39-year-old tobacconist and champion draughts player of England, Alfred Jordan conducted a long professional tour in Australia and New Zealand in 1910.

Alexander Drummond Campbell

The English angler and sports fisherman, Alexander Drummond Campbell was a frequent visitor to New Zealand and a passenger on the Wimmera on several occasions.

Bernard Freyberg

Long before he became one of New Zealand foremost military figures, a VC winner and Governor-General, Bernard Cyril Freyberg was known as a swimming champion.

Tom Reece

World-champion English billiards player Tom Reece toured Australia and New Zealand in 1912. His journey from Sydney to Auckland was aboard the SS Wimmera which departed the former port on 14 August and arrived at the latter on 18 August. Reece spent several weeks in the Dominion before returning to Sydney aboard the Maheno on…

Jack Crawford

The cricketer John Neville “Jack” Crawford was a passenger aboard the ss Wimmera in April 1915. He was a player with the Surrey Cricket Club and was one of three Surrey players selected to the join the English team (under the Marylebone Cricket Club) which toured Australia in 1907-08.

Harry Parker

New Zealand-born H. A. (Harry Alabaster) Parker was a member of the Australasian tennis team to play at Wimbledon in late 1905.

Japanese wrestlers

In 1904 the Fitzgerald Brothers brought to Australasia a troupe of six Japanese wrestlers together with their umpire and an interpreter.