English immigrants arrive in Wellington on the Atlantis in 1951. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library
English immigrants arrive in Wellington on the Atlantis in 1951. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library
A hundred thousand arrived on our shores over 30 years, and without them New Zealand may never have become known the world over as "Middle Earth".
They were called "Ten Pound Poms", these post-World War II migrants who came to New Zealand under a Government-assisted, £10 passage per person immigration scheme which, according to Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, primarily helped British citizens of European race and colour.
Among them were the parents of future Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit director, Sir Peter Jackson and, in 1957, celebrated playwright Sir Roger Hall, who was just 19 when he arrived in the country he says freed him from the shackles of the British class system.
This weekend, genealogy giant Ancestry is celebrating New Zealand immigration by making all immigration records free to access on their website www.ancestry.com.au until today.
As part of that there has been a particular focus on "Ten Pound Poms" and their Kiwi-born kids, such as Sir Peter, country manager for Ancestry in New Zealand and Australia Nigel Seeto said.
Sir Peter Jackson, pictured with his wife Dame Fran Walsh, was born in New Zealand after his parents emigrated here as 'Ten Pound Poms'. File photo / Albert L. Ortega / WireImage
Records showed Sir Peter's father, William Jackson, was among passengers who sailed from Southampton on the Atlantis in August 1950. The Oscar winner's mother Joan Ruck made the same journey on the Rangitata, leaving London in April 1951.
The pair met in Wellington, married and their son, who is one of the world's most celebrated filmmakers, was born in 1961.
"The 'Ten Pound Poms' are one of the many waves of immigrants that are an integral part of New Zealand's story," Seeto said.
"Our historic collections reflect key moments in their journey, from shipping embarkation to naturalisation in a new land. Over the extend weekend period Kiwis can go to Ancestry's comprehensive records to see what they can find about the journey taken by family and friends."
Actors Ian McKellen and Luke Evans in The Hobbit, which was filmed in New Zealand because of Kiwi director Sir Peter Jackson, the son of assisted immigrants to New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
The databases also included information on migrants who came over the same period, but not through the assisted migration scheme, such as the late actress Davina Whitehouse, who arrived in New Zealand on the Rangitiki with her husband and two sons in 1952, and the parents of broadcaster Paul Henry, who arrived in the late 1950s.
Key collections available included the UK Outward Passenger List 1890-1960 records, New Zealand Naturalisations 1843-1981 and New Zealand Electoral Rolls 1853-1981.
The story of the migrants' lives after their arrival could also be traced in more than 40 New Zealand databases on Ancestry, including more than 37 million records.
For Roger Hall, who arrived in New Zealand in 1958 and didn't have to pay the £10 passage because he had a public service insurance job waiting for him, the change was profound.
In the United Kingdom he had been an uninspired schoolboy who was, without realising it, hampered by the class system.
"The best thing I ever did was leaving home and coming to New Zealand, and eventually realising there was a no class system here. You just accepted it [in the United Kingdom] and it was awful looking back ... thinking [about opportunities] 'people like me can't do that'."
Moving to New Zealand aged 19 was the best thing he ever did, playwright Sir Roger Hall says. File photo / Michael Craig
The multi-award winning playwright, who has penned dozens of plays, including Prisoners of Mother England about a group of English immigrants in New Zealand between 1958 and 1968, said he probably would've stayed working in insurance if he'd not moved to New Zealand.
On our shores the former middle class boy worked several jobs — as well as his day job for State Fire Insurance he logged nighttime hours at Woolworths, on the wharves, as a cleaner and, later, a waiter.
