On 27 April 1909 "Waratah" set out on her second trip to Australia carrying 22 cabin, 193 steerage passengers in addition to a large cargo of general merchandise, and had a crew of 119. The outward trip was largely uneventful, and the steamer arrived at Adelaide on 6 June after touching off at Cape Town on 18 May. Upon loading approximately 970 tons of lead ore at Adelaide, the steamer continued to Melbourne and had to plough through a strong gale which also complicated her berthing upon arrival there on 11 June. She continued on to Sydney where she loaded her cargo for the return voyage, consisting among other things of 7,800 bars of bullion, wool, frozen meat, dairy and flour and departed on 26 June. She stopped to complete her loading at Melbourne and Adelaide and set out from Adelaide on 7 July bound for the South African ports of Durban and Cape Town and continuing to Europe. Aside from almost 100 passengers, she also had on board a convict being extradited to South Africa, accompanied by two Transvaal policemen.