General News
8 November, 2023
New citizens are welcomed
FRIENDS witnessed five Loddon residents become Australian citizens last week. Among them were Bridge-water couple Ashwani Bawa and Santosh Kumari who moved to the shire almost a decade ago. Ashwani said they arrived in Australia in 2009 “to start...
FRIENDS witnessed five Loddon residents become Australian citizens last week.
Among them were Bridge-water couple Ashwani Bawa and Santosh Kumari who moved to the shire almost a decade ago.
Ashwani said they arrived in Australia in 2009 “to start a new life”.
“We moved to Bridgewater 2014 and met Peter Moore and Sue Moore who have supported us every step of the way in our journey to become Australian citizens,” Ashwani said.
Santosh worked for the Moores at Inglewood IGA and recently gained employment at Inglewood Districts Health Services.
Ashwani has been working at Laucke Flour Mill in Bridgewater since arriving in the town and was supported at the ceremony in Loddon shire’s council chambers, Wedderburn, by supervisors.
“We are very pleased to have become Australia citizens,” Ashwani said.
Mayor Dan Straub said: “It was fascinating to hear all the different stories from our new citizens, and find out what inspired them to become Australians.”
The ceremony also saw Gina Pacubas, of Pyramid Hill (originally from the Philippines), Darai Puttasri, of Boort (Thailand) and Luis Salas Pyramid Hill (Philippines) become Australian citizens.
In 2022-2023, more than 192,947 people became Australian citizens representing over 200 different nationalities. Loddon Shire regularly holds citizenship ceremonies.