Keith Lightfoot travelled from the United Kingdom to New Zealand aboard the TSS Captain Cook when he was two years old, as part of an immigration assistance program offered by the New Zealand Government.

Between 1947 and 1975, a total of 77,000 women, children and men arrived from Great Britain under the assisted immigration scheme. 

The Captain Cook had 1070 berths and was furnished in a solid but attractive style. Its first trip to New Zealand was not uneventful: workmen were still carrying out conversion work, a failure in the engine room necessitated a layover in Aruba in the Caribbean, and the ship ran out of fresh water a few days out of Wellington. In 1960 the Captain Cook was withdrawn from service and broken up.

Initially settling in Picton, then onto Christchurch, the family moved frequently throughout the country as part of his father’s Air Force career, eventually buying a home and enjoying a wonderful life in Invercargill.

Historical Information re NZ Immigration:
Long journey for seven pence
Assisted immigration, 1947-75 Media Gallery
Mailing lists for immigrant passengers

Special Thanks to: New Zealand History Online: www.nzhistory.net.nz