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East Gippsland welcomes newest citizens for Australia Day 2022

East Gippsland has welcomed 14 new Aussies at a citizenship ceremony held on Australia Day - Wednesday, January 26.

By news@gippsland - 28th January 2022 - Back to News

Mayor Cr Mark Reeves, who presided over the ceremony, said it was wonderful to see everyone wanting to officially call Australia home, whether they had been living in Australia for many years (in the case of some of candidates more than 50 years), had recently moved to East Gippsland, or are new arrivals to Australia.

Staged at the St Mary's Parish Centre in Bairnsdale, 14 people from Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Portugal, India, Vietnam and New Zealand took the pledge to become Australian citizens

Adding diversity and culture to East Gippsland

Cr Reeves said, "Australian citizenship is the common bond which unites us all. Australia respects the diverse cultural inheritance of its citizens and our new citizens add yet another rich layer of diversity and culture to East Gippsland. On behalf of the council I congratulate everyone for taking that final step of formalising their commitment to our great country."

Aunty Sandra Patten, a Gunai senior elder, provided the welcome to the country, and Member for Gippsland East Tim Bull was on hand to assist the Mayor with the presentations.

The ceremony was live streamed and can be viewed on our East Gippy TV YouTube channel.

Pictures from East Gippsland Shire Council Facebook page.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com