Our home and native land has officially changed! As of the 26th of May, precisely at 9am, we are citizens of Australia (we think?). After a long process of applications, form submission, interviews and additional form submissions, writing the test and now taking the pledge, we have achieved something that even Russell Crowe dreams to be. An Aussie!
It was great timing for us to take this process on as we marked our 4th year of permanent residency and had to remain in the country during the application process. This was made possible by the COVID pandemic, so it was just the mere task of uploading documents to the Department of Home Affairs website over several days. Once submitted and reviewed, we were invited for an interview and to write the test. The test consists of 20 multiple choice questions in which you must answer all 5 of the Australian values questions correctly, and get a mark of at least 75% overall. We both made the grade and the Minister for Immigration wrote to us saying the final step is to take the pledge. This was organized by the Livingstone Shire, our local Yeppoon government.
It was a small ceremony that we attended with 10 other successful residents. The master of ceremony for this commencement was our Shire Mayor with a brief appearance made by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Everyone was asked to be there at 8:30am to get checked in and seated. By 8:40am we were ready to go, but according to law, the ceremony can’t start before 9am. No one knew why, but it’s a rule apparently. We all just sat quietly listening to the best musical artists Australia has to offer. No event is possible without a sing-along to Daryl Braithwaite’s – The Horses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnigc08J6FI
9am! It’s game time. The Mayor welcomed us with a formal speech, but there was no welcome message from our Minister for Immigration as promised. Time out! It’s only 9:02am and there’s already stoppage in play? Well, 5 days earlier, the federal election was held in Australia and there was an upheaval of our residing government. The Liberals are no longer and the Labor Party is in. One small problem, we don’t have a Minister for Immigration sworn in at the moment, therefore official citizenship certificates will not be provided… Very well, let’s carry on.
We were asked to make the pledge of commitment out loud. Making the pledge is a public commitment to Australia. It means that you are accepting the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship. This was followed by the singing of the National Anthem. Much to our surprise, the anthem is not Men At Work’s (We come from the land) Down Under. It’s this other song called Advance Australia Fair. Not quite as catchy, but we sang it the best we could. We were presented with ‘fake’ citizenship certificates, a loot bag, and a native plant from our Shire nursery. This concluded our ceremony and we were reminded to check our letter box in 4-6 weeks for the actual certificate! She’ll be right, mate!
