Today we have a painting of the Union Steam Ship Company's ship the Monowai, a well known trans-Tasman liner which took 3 days for the crossing from Wellington or Auckland to Sydney until the service became a victim of the airlines in the early 1960s.
Some details of this ship are in the book Wanganella and the Australian trans-Tasman Liners by Peter Plowman which is co-published by us.
Onboard this ship a lodge of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes was established. Such lodges were common on major ships in the old days and were known as "Floating" Lodges. The Monowai Lodge RAOB originally came under the Grand Lodge of New South Wales. When the ship Monowai was withdrawn and sold for scrapping the lodge came ashore in Wellington N.Z. and still operates to this day being based in Stokes Valley at the Masonic Hall it meets under the Authority of Wellington Provincial Grand Lodge of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand GLE and carries a NZ Number, 294 on the Roll of Lodges of the RAOB GLNZ of GLE.
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