Whangarei man Bernard Ross thought he became a New Zealand citizen in the 1950s.
But after a bit of research, he discovered he in fact had never been an "official" Kiwi - so, half a century later, he swore his oath of allegiance to New Zealand in a citizenship ceremony on
Friday.
Mr Ross, born in Yorkshire, England, was one of 50 people who officially became Kiwis at the Whangarei District Council chambers.
The others included women from Iraq and Tibet, and families from India, the Philippines and Britain.
Mr Ross was pleased to be finally called a Kiwi, and looked forward to getting a New Zealand passport.
A member of the Royal New Zealand Navy for the last four months of World War II, he thought a citizenship ceremony he went through in the Victoria Barracks in England was "official" enough.
"But after I wrote to [Internal Affairs Minister] Rick Barker, I realised it wasn't recognised, and I wasn't actually a citizen."
And his extensive extended family can now enjoy having a true-blue Kiwi father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
Mr Ross, through two marriages, has more than 60 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
There were other memorable moments from Friday's ceremony. South African-born Carolyn Leggott broke down in tears reading her affirmation, saying "it's taken six years for me to get here".
After Welsh couple Ian and Linzi Morgan swore an oath, Mr Morgan mentioned that his wife's identical twins would one day be great rugby players.
"They'll grow up and be able to play for the best rugby team in the world, Wales, or the second-best team, the All Blacks," he joked.
