Above: Karen and Simon Dougall celebrate their Australian citizenship.By Sarah Schwager
EMOTIONS were high at Cardinia’s Australia Day celebrations last Thursday when local residents were welcomed as new Australians in the shire’s citizenship ceremony.
LaTrobe MP Jason Wood, representing Federal Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs John Cobb, said the 42 new citizens were among 14,000 around Australia to be invested on Australia Day.
Two of those were Upper Beaconsfield residents Karen and Simon Dougall, who made the move from Scotland five years ago.
“It’s the best decision we’ve ever made,” Mr Dougall said.
Mrs Dougall, a pharmacist, and Mr Dougall, a production manager, originally came to Sydney before discovering Upper Beaconsfield and haven’t looked back.
“We’re very lucky,” Mrs Dougall said.
“It’s the best country to live in.”
New citizens were welcomed from Belgium, Chile, England, Fiji, Greece, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, China, Philippines, Scotland, South Africa and Thailand.
Pakenham’s Patricia Finch and her children Calvin, aged six, and Georgina, seven, were welcomed as citizens after moving from the United Kingdom nearly three years ago.
“We made the decision we wanted to stay and wanted to continue the next step, not just be residents,” Mrs Finch said.
She said they loved the area and the children loved Pakenham Consolidated School, and it was the perfect place to live as it was in the country yet still close to the city.
She said her husband Steve was still waiting for citizenship.
Cardinia mayor Bill Ronald said the new citizens would enjoy all those rights that Australians enjoyed such as freedom and independence of speech and religion, equality between men and women and parliamentary democracy.
“This is the basis for our inclusive society and brings with it a strong sense of identity,” Cr Ronald said.
