ALMOST 30 new Australians have been welcomed at a citizenship ceremony at Swan Hill Town Hall.
Mayor Les McPhee had the honour of presenting the new Australians with their citizenship of Friday.
The ceremony was attended by family and friends.
People from all corners of the world, of all ages, pledged their commitment to the nation, before being led in a rendition of their new national anthem.
Cr McPhee followed the anthem with a hearty “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie”, which the crowd followed with an enthusiastic “Oi, Oi, Oi.”
Following the ceremony, Tesha Anderson said she was filled with pride to finally become an Australian citizen.
“I feel really privileged because I’m very passionate about democratic beliefs and the way that politics is run in this country,” she said.
“I lived in the UK for a long time, and now I’m so blessed to be here and be a citizen.”
Ms Anderson said she had been residing in Australia for over a decade, but only now receiving her citizenship.
“I’ve been in Australia for about 12 years, so it’s been a long time coming. I only moved to Swan Hill a year ago and this community has been very supportive.
“I’m so proud to be a part of this community.”
That pride was echoed by Harinder Kaur and her family, who become dual citizens of Australia and India.
“We have been in Swan Hill for almost eight years, and we love it here,” she said.
“Becoming an Australian citizen makes me really proud, and confident in my family’s future.”
Cr McPhee said that leading the ceremony is one of his favourite parts of being mayor.
“It’s a real pleasure,” he said. “It’s one of the more pleasing roles I have as mayor.
“The fact that the room was filled with their family and friends, and a lot of Australian friends came along to witness the ceremony. It just shows how important being an Australian citizen is to a lot of people.”
Cr McPhee said the municipality was lucky to have been bolstered by migration throughout history.
“Swan Hill and the whole municipality has grown a lot through migration,” he said.
“Whether it was the post World War II soldier settlements, or later groups of Italian, Pacific Islanders and Asian population migrating to our region.
“In Australia, we call ourselves the lucky country. But we don’t really know how lucky we are until we have a chance to speak to these people and hear the things they had to go through to become citizens of our great country.”
