Katherine's annual Australian Citizenship Ceremony was held at the Civic Centre Lawns on Friday evening, and celebrated the 24 community members from all over the world who had completed the long journey to citizenship.

One of those community members, Thomas Sadecki, said he and his wife, Elorita, applied to become citizens as soon as they were eligible.

The couple, from Germany, came to Australia four years ago, and have lived in Katherine for six months. Their two boys, Vince and Josh, were both born in Australia.

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Mr Sadecki said he was thrilled to finally be a citizen after such a long process.

"It's awesome, it's great...it's a dream come true," he said.

"We applied instantly on the day we were eligible after four years.

"The application took eleven months."

The ceremony almost had to be conducted online due to the COVID-19 lockdown in Katherine.

However, Katherine Town Council decided to hold the event as planned when the lockdown was lifted at midday on Friday.

"We planned to have more friends attending the ceremony but we were restricted to four, so with two kids we could only bring two people.

"But, we were really relieved. It's still better than an online ceremony.

"It's as good as it gets in the circumstances."

Katherine's new Aussie citizens came from fourteen countries around the world including South Sudan, Sri Landa, Israel, the Phillipines and Poland.

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