Citizenship ceremonies bring joy

Published on 14 July 2023

Darebin community members have been overjoyed to receive their Australian citizenship at ceremonies hosted by Council at Preston City Hall this year.

Describing her experience at one of the ceremonies, one of our newest Australian citizens, Reservoir resident Manpreet Kaur Boparai said she and her family were “very, very happy to be Australians”.

“Obviously we love Australia because Australia is a country that gave us the opportunity to live the life we want. And a lot of opportunities to grow in my career especially, I’m a nurse,” Manpreet said.

Rezina Pradhan said it was an emotional and overwhelming day.

“It’s been amazing to call Australia my second home,” Rezina said.

“Definitely overwhelming with teary eyes and I could see the happiness of all the families and all the individuals celebrating love and respect and equal opportunity in Australia.”

As a proudly diverse community and a Welcoming City, we’ re excited we can once again hold citizenship ceremonies to support and celebrate our new Australian citizens on one of the most important days of their lives.

In April we held our first citizenship ceremonies since 2017, led by Darebin Mayor Cr Julie Williams. We have now welcomed 580 new citizens across six ceremonies.

We look forward to now hosting regular citizenship ceremonies and welcoming many more new citizens.

Find out more information about citizenship ceremonies in Darebin. You can choose your preferred language from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.