Mayookhi Wickramasingha and her family are delighted to be Australian citizens after almost five years in the country.
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On Tuesday Mrs Wickramasingha, her family and many others were granted Australian citizenship at the Australia Day ceremony.
After moving from Sri Lanka's captial city of Colombo to Australia five years ago, Mrs Wickramasingha, her husband Dilan, daughter Sisini and son Thaviru have made Dubbo home.
"We came to Dubbo in 2016, and here we are after years getting our citizenship certificates," Mrs Wickramasingha said.
Finding a job in Australia in a specific field is difficult for a lot of skilled migrants but Mrs Wickramasingha admits she was 'lucky'.
"We migrated to Australia, as part of the skill migration program. I am an English teacher of 10 years in Sri Lanka and a lot of skill migrants were worried about not being able to work in their field but I am so lucky because in the first month I got offered a teacher's aide position and now I am working as a full-time educator in a childcare centre,"
Mrs Wickramasingha praised her co-workers for welcoming her with open arms into their workplace since she began her job.
"It's a bonus of working at the childcare centre that everyone there is so lovely and they are looking after me and I feel like I have a big family here with my workmates and all the families I take care of,"
"We are so proud to be Australians now and so proud to be apart of Dubbo. This is a beautiful town and during the pandemic situation we realised how important it is to be in regional area and how important it is to be in a town like this,"
"We are enjoying it and it's a big honour to be Australian,"
Joined by her friends and family Mrs Wickramasingha said she was thankful for Dubbo Regional Council for hosting the event.
"A lot of work friends came down to see us get our certificate's so I am really thankful for them and to the organisation (Dubbo Regional Council) for hosting the event for us too."
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over 7.5 million people have settled in Australia since 1945.
As of June 2019, it was estimated that 29.7 percent of Australian residents were born overseas.
Migrants can enter Australia through the Humanitarian program for refugees or those in refugee-like situations or like Mrs Wickramasingha through the migration program for skilled and family migrants.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics also reported that in 2019 every single country in the world was represented in Australia.