AFTER living in Australia for 13 years, there was only one date truly fitting for Katherinites Binayak and Sangita Adhikari to take the plunge into citizenship: January 26.
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The couple joined 10 other residents in taking their Affirmation of Allegiance in front of a packed house at Katherine Town Council’s official Australia Day ceremony last week and were met with raucous applause when mayor Fay Miller introduced them as the community’s newest Australians.
Originally from Nepal, the Adhikaris have called Australia home since 2003 and lived in Katherine for about three years.
Following the citizenship ceremony, Mr Adhikari said it had been honour to become an Australian in front of so many community members as part of the town’s Australia Day festivities.
“After residing in Katherine for almost three years, we felt very special to be a part of Katherine residents as an Australian citizen on a special day for Australia,” he explained.
He added that becoming citizens had been on the couple’s radar ever since they arrived in the country, as it would allow them to experience the “deeper values” Australians hold close to their hearts and strengthen his resolve to do what he could to make his community a better place.
“To be an Australian citizen, for us, is to join Australia and its people as being a part of it in its deeper values,” he said.
“Most of all, after being an Australian citizen, it will always direct me to do better things for the benefit and well-being of Australia and its people.”
Mr Adhikari said that life in Australia, especially in the slow-paced Top End, was extremely different to what he and his wife had experienced in Nepal, and that they had embraced the relaxed approach favoured by Territorians.
“It’s a quiet life over here in Katherine and you can manage to have enough time to give to oneself and the family,” he said when asked what he liked most about living in the town.
“Most of all, after being an Australian citizen, it will always direct me to do the better things for the benefit and well-being of Australia and its people.”
Katherine’s newest citizens are Binayak Adhikari, Sangita Adhikari, Michael Ledesma, Maria Nilsson, Sandeep Ponugoti, Archit Subedi, Nischal Subedi, Rashmi Sharma, Pir Sidhu, Iain Spiers, Mary Thompson and Treesa Joseph.
Sixty-nine Katherinites became Australians in 2015, with the next citizenship ceremony scheduled to coincide with the council’s February ordinary meeting later this month.
