It was a time of celebration for the 29 people who became Australian citizens at the Kyneton Town Hall on Australia Day, Thursday, January 26.
As names were called to the stage, delighted family members stood along the walls of the grand old building to capture the moment they were handed a certificate by Macedon Ranges mayor Annette Death.
Sara Scaramella, originally from Roma in Italy, said she’d been waiting four or five years to become a citizen and was thrilled.
She lives with her partner in Hesket, and said the Macedon Ranges reminded her a bit of the Italian countryside she knew well.
“I’m really, really happy,” she said.
Hailing from New Zealand, resident Simon Troon was also ecstatic to now call himself an Australian – his wife Frances even ran up to him on stage during the ceremony to hand him a flag and peck him on the cheek.
“Look, it’s taken me 20 years to become a citizen, so it’s good,” he said, and Ms Troon said “it was well worth the wait”.
Molly Bryson, originally from Canada and now living in Lancefield, said she felt “privileged and fortunate” to become a citizen.
“I love this country, I live here with the love of my life… it really is such a beautiful [place], the land, the people, the flora and fauna, it’s really what brightens up my day,” she said.
Now she’s been granted her citizenship she can go back to university to study architecture and she can’t wait.
At the ceremony, a message Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Andrew Giles was read, which said that Australia’s diversity “was its greatest strength”.
