A VARIETY of countries were represented when 23 people became Australian citizens at Albury’s celebrations yesterday.
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The biggest contingent was from the Bhutanese community with nine newcomers from two families.
But the other new citizens come from Bangladesh, Scotland, Ukraine, India, South Korea, Burma and New Zealand.
Afsar Ahmed lives in Sydney, but he has a cousin living in North Albury and decided this was the ideal place to pledge his affirmation to Australia.
The Koirala family from Bhutan originally settled in the Tasmanian city of Launceston before moving to Albury.
Their move was prompted by wanting to be with family and friends to “start a new life, have a fresh start”.
Bhola Koirala, 39, is learning English with the long-term hope of gaining full-time employment.
His son Durga, 14, is attending Albury High School and wants to be an IT expert. His younger brother Sanjaya is at Albury Public School.
Wodonga taxi driver Charanjit Sethi, 47, came to the Albury region with his partner Raminder Kaur, 42, two years ago.
Initially they moved from Delhi to Melbourne where they lived for three years before opting for the quieter country life.
Á friend told them about the Albury-Wodonga region and they came to visit a couple of times before making the move.
Mr Sethi describes the area, its scenery and amenities as “awesome”.
He said life is not “hurried” here and Ms Kaur said: “We can spend more quality time with family”.
Wiradjuri elder Aunty Nancy Rooke welcomed the many people present to her “country”, but had a special mention for the new citizens.
“Welcome to our beautiful country, Wiradjuri,” she said.
“Where our ancient ancestors walked, you will walk.”
Those who became naturalised are Afsar Ahmed (Bangladesh), Harry Brown (Scotland), Tank Chawan, Bhupal Chouhan, Damber Chuwan, Bidish Chouhan (Bhutan), Andriy Holumbiyevskyy (Ukraine), Premchand Jaladi (India), Bhola Koirala, Ganga Koirala, Prem Koirala, Durga Koirala, Sanjaya Koirala (Bhutan), Junddeun Lee (South Korea), Zin Lwin, Zaw Oo, Charlotte Lin (Burma), Charanjit Sethi, Raminder Kaur (India), Sojeong Shin (South Korea), Arun Singhal (India) and Natalie Ward (New Zealand).
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