FOUR Ararat Rural City residents have cemented their ties to Australia in a citizenship ceremony held at Alexandra Oval Community Centre on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The morning\u2019s proceedings led with a \u2018Welcome to Country\u2019 followed by a shared moment of reflection in memory of the late Queen Elizabeth II ahead of conferees taking their pledge.<\/p>\n
Presiding over the citizenship ceremony, Mayor Jo Armstrong said it is a great honour as mayor to officiate over this important ceremony and welcome our newest citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are privileged to share this beautiful country with the world\u2019s oldest continuing culture; Australia\u2019s diversity is one of our greatest strengths,\u201d Cr Armstrong said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether by birth or choice, citizenship is a common bond that unites Australians within a community and one that is welcomed by all.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking the pledge is the final step in your journey to becoming an Australian citizen. I am very proud to congratulate you on your decision and in choosing Ararat Rural City as your place to live, work and raise a family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ceremony celebrates the significance of becoming a citizen of this country, including the privileges and responsibilities that come with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cr Armstrong said the atmosphere at the citizenship ceremony was abuzz.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s truly an exciting event for all involved, especially for families, friends, and neighbours to see conferees take their pledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, Council celebrated four citizens-in-waiting hailing from China, Philippines, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Ararat being a Welcoming City, it\u2019s wonderful to embrace a growing diversity in our community and to celebrate everything that makes Australia a great nation,\u201d Cr Armstrong said.<\/p>\n
After official proceedings, morning tea was served to recipients and their families.<\/p>\n
Conferees include Tanzeel Ahmed Shah, Irene Carpio Hermosilla, Malian El Eter and Sonia Joyce Smith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOUR Ararat Rural City residents have cemented their ties to Australia in a citizenship ceremony held at Alexandra Oval Community Centre on Wednesday.
\nThe morning\u2019s proceedings led with a \u2018Welcome to Country\u2019 followed by a shared moment of reflection in memory of the late Queen Elizabeth II ahead of conferees taking their pledge.
\nPresiding over the citizenship ceremony, Mayor Jo Armstrong said it is a great honour as mayor to officiate over this important ceremony and welcome our newest citizens.
\nConferees include Tanzeel Ahmed Shah, Irene Carpio Hermosilla, Malian El Eter and Sonia Joyce Smith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[31],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alexandra-Oval-Community-Centre-Citizenship-Ceremony-Ararat_2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-pv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1581"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}