In 1906 a team of 38 New Zealand lawn bowlers, known as the “All Whites”, conducted a tour of Australia. The first members of the team joined the Moeraki on Thursday 4 October 1906 in Dunedin. En route to Sydney the Moeraki called via both Lyttelton and Wellington where further members of the team boarded for the journey across the Tasman. Sydney was reached early on the morning of Wednesday 10 October.
It was a successful tour for the team which played matches against, amongst others, the state teams of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, on their own greens. The New Zealand “All Whites” were victorious against all of the Australia State teams except the Victorians.
At the conclusion of their tour the team arrived at Bluff, from Hobart aboard the Wimmera on 20 November 1906. They continued their journey up to Invercargill where they were welcomed by the Mayor, Mr Scandrett, and played a match against the Southland Bowling Club. Some of team later re-joined the Wimmera to journey North to Dunedin.
© Ralph L. Sanderson 2004-2021
SS Wimmera 