Fighting back tears to be Aussies
AMID smiles and tears, 12 Gympie region residents took the final step in their journey to becoming Australian citizens yesterday morning at the Civic Centre.
Gympie
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AMID smiles and tears, 12 Gympie region residents took the final step in their journey to becoming Australian citizens yesterday morning at the Civic Centre.
As part of Australian Citizenship Day celebrations, candidates from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Hungary, the Philippines and Sri Lanka took the official oath in Gympie, joining more than 1500 new citizens across Queensland.
Mayor Ron Dyne led candidates in reciting their Pledge of Commitment to the Commonwealth of Australia and congratulated new citizens, wishing them a fruitful life in Australia.
"Today is a significant day in the life of the candidates as they take Australian citizenship," Cr Dyne said.
Christhonee Odtohan and Rhandy Rosales moved to Australia from the Philippines in 2008 and were touched with emotion at the ceremony.
"It's a very memorable day," Mrs Odtohan said. "I started with a suitcase in Australia and now I actually have a whole community," she said.
Mr Rosales said he still fondly remembered the first time he arrived in Australia and was very proud to now be an official Australian.
"It's like validation for us that we belong here," he said.
Nancy Martin, originally from South Africa, was not expecting to feel as emotional as she did. "I couldn't even speak I felt so emotional," she said. "I feel honoured and privileged to become Australian."
Mrs Martin moved to Australia in 2006 to marry her childhood friend.
They had met in South Africa as 12 year olds and had not seen each other for 52 years.
They discovered each other on a South African website and started emailing each other.
"And then one thing led to another and the rest is history," Mrs Martin said.
Les Batchelor was 22 years old when he moved to Australia from the United Kingdom, 57 years ago.
"I'm quite excited, I suppose," he said.
"I've been here 57 years, but important decisions shouldn't be taken in a hurry," Les joked.
Originally published as Fighting back tears to be Aussies
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