New Australians take the pledge

ABOUT thirty people have become Australian citizens during an event at Ballarat Town Hall on 26 January.

They came from 15 different countries, but all had one thing in common – a desire to join with millions of others in citizenship of this nation.

Member for Ballarat Catherine King delivered a message to attendees on behalf of the Federal immigration minister and welcomed the new Australians.

“Attending citizenship ceremonies is one of the best parts of my job,” she said. “These people have chosen to join our national community, they have decided that Australia is the place where they want to live their lives and raise their families.

“We should all feel proud and honoured that they have felt so welcomed in our Ballarat community that they decided to formally become Australian citizens.

“To see the joy on their faces makes you realise how lucky you are to be Australian.”

Four of the people to become Australian citizens on the day were Renuka Basavarajappa Maladihalli, her husband Xavier Dass and their sons Tim and Youhanna.

As a family they came from Bangalore in India to Australia for work. Ms Basavarajappa Maladihalli is a dentist with Ballarat Health Services in Sebastapol and Mr Dass an IT engineer at IBM in Mount Helen.

After nearly a decade living in Australia, they said now was a good time to become citizens.

“We’ve thought about it for quite some time” Mr Dass said. “We came here about eight-and-a-half years ago and decided we’d been here for so long that it was time.

“We like Ballarat more than Melbourne. We have a small community here and we like this place.”

Guest speaker George Ermer, one of the 300 official Australia Day ambassadors, added his personal story on becoming a citizen of Australia.

He emigrated from Hungary in the 1940s before settling in Melbourne’s inner northern suburbs, officially becoming an Australian as a teenager in 1954 at Northcote Town Hall.

“On Australia Day one of the most treasured and emotional events is the citizenship ceremony,” he said. “Many will be taking place today all over Australia.

“All of us to who have been part of citizenship ceremonies will remember the pride and sense of achievement that makes this special event.

“I still remember mine 66 years ago.”