She was the fourth in a family of eight children born to Mary (née Morison) and Edmund Wimperis.
She and her sisters were members of the Naturalists Field Club, of which Charles Kingsley, of The Water Babies fame, was the leader.
They joined Susanna's household in Mornington, Dunedin, and continued to paint and exhibit.
One of her oil paintings won first prize at the South Seas Exhibition.
[2] One of her most notable pupils was Ella Spicer, who began exhibiting when she was just 15 years old.