More than 90 Goulburn Valley residents become Australian citizens

“It feels good, it feels amazing,” he said.

After months of pandemic-related postponements, Greater Shepparton City Council hosted three in-person ceremonies last week.

“We thought about hosting them online but the common thread was it was better to do a big catch-up,” City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Kim O’Keeffe said.

“We’ll have another one next month.”

Mr Mwamba’s journey to Shepparton has been a long one. He fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and lived in the Osire refugee camp in Namibia for nine years.

When the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees secured his travel to Australia, it only took three days for him to arrive here.

“It was great to finally start a new life,” Mr Mwamba said.

Since then he’s completed a bachelor’s degree in business accounting, and now works for a firm in Murchison.

After five years in Australia following her immigration from Syria, Wajeeha Hawran said she was “happy and excited” to finally be an Australian citizen.

For Kam Dhaliwal, Gary Sidhu and son Robyn Sidhu, finally becoming citizens has been in the works for a while.

“It was a long time coming,” Mr Sidhu said.

The family moved from India and has been in Australia since 2009.

“COVID caused lots of delays,” Ms Dhaliwal said.

Cr O’Keeffe said becoming an Australian citizen was important to celebrate.

“It’s a very special day and it’s very important for these community members to have their citizenship,” she said.