Stories from the community
The women and children were separated from the men in different holds down in the depths of the ship. Everyone slept in bunks three high and 250 people in each hold. There were no facilities for babies and toddlers at all and every mother had to do her best to make sure her children did not fall out of their beds or even into the sea. – Louise Hansen-Leemans, of her journey in 1950.
The advent of steamships and the newly created Panama Canal reduced travel time and improved the quality of life on board. And, after the Second World War, air travel evolved as an even quicker means of transport. Nonetheless, making the journey during this period could still be gruelling.
We asked people around the country to send us stories in their own words of the journey they or their relatives made, to begin a new life in New Zealand. Here is a selection.
What's your story?
A child’s voyage
Pictured is Adeline Vera Taylor (Mrs E. T. Heathcote) who made the voyage from England to New Zealand as a young child in 1906. This photograph was taken in 1927, shortly before her marriage.
Storm at sea
Dorothy Fenton (now Gore) as a young child in Blackpool, England. She was 10 years old in 1920, when her family left New Zealand on the steamship Paparoa.
A war bride’s tale
Newlyweds Anna Maria and Jack Hall spend some precious time together on the deck of the Tamaroa, a ship returning servicemen to New Zealand in 1946. While many war brides had to travel alone, a lucky accident meant the Halls were able to make the six-week voyage together.
Two near misses
Twelve members of Chris Thorogood’s family were among this group of British citizens stranded in San Francisco in 1949. On their way to settle in New Zealand, a storm grounded their ship in the English Channel and so they missed their connecting flight in the USA. After this picture appeared in San Francisco newspapers, the group managed to charter a plane to New Zealand. Chris Thorogood and his parents are third, fourth and fifth from right in the back row, with his sister and grandmother in front.
Guard the washing
With her husband and son, Louise de Leeuw (née Leemans) sailed to New Zealand on the Volendam, a Dutch immigrant ship, in 1950. The family are all smiles here, but life on board was difficult, with 1,600 people crammed 250 to a hold, three bunks high, husbands and wives in separate parts of the ship, no facilities for babies or toddlers and only saltwater to do the laundry.
New Zealand by air
Brothers Dirk and Jan Rinckes farewell their relatives in the Netherlands as they board a KLM aircraft bound for New Zealand. Their flight, on 6 July 1952, was a preliminary to the London to Christchurch Centennial Air Race in 1953. They arrived in New Zealand, days later than scheduled, to much fanfare and speech-making by New Zealand and Dutch government officials.
A daughter of Neptune
When ships crossed the equator, special celebrations were devised for first-timers ‘crossing the line’. Pictured is Beryl Tuppen (left) dressed as one of Neptune’s daughters, onboard the steamship Captain Cook in 1952. Other passengers dressed up in a variety of characters – Captain Cook, Carmen Miranda and Mae West among others. King Neptune can be also seen in the background directing the proceedings.
No harm done
Gillian O’Rourke shows off her outfit for a fancy dress party on board the T.S.S. Captain Cook, bound for Wellington in 1955. Seamen unravelled rope to make her beard.