I took this photo at the Blacktown Festival. Love the Australian Flag turban!I just discovered I am free to apply for Australian Citizenship. I thought that was still a few months off, but in fact it is now. There was even an appointment available this Saturday to sit my Australian Citizenship test. So I took it.
I have been pretty anti the Citizenship test. I have had dire doubts as to whether it's a good idea. However, having just booked my test, I started reading the preparation booklet for Citizenship, Becoming a Citizen. It provides some useful information and hey, it's not that bad. In fact I think I could've done well to read it the week I arrived. It would have saved me some wonderful dinner table boo-boos over time! I have yet to get all the way through the 46 pages, but I am now sure, if I wasn't before, that:
1. The national flower is the Golden Wattle
2. Humans have inhabited Australia for 40,000 to 60,000 years and Australia's Indigenous Culture is the oldest surviving culture in the world
3. More than 700 languages were spoken by Aboriginal people pre-settlement and 250 remain today
4. Voting is compulsory in Australia
5. There are three levels of government: Federal (national), State and Territory, and Local (councils).
6. There are 21 million people in Australia (a similar population, by the way, as Shanghai)
7. 22% of Australians were born overseas (where I live the figure is way past 50%)
8. The country is predominately Christian (64%), with the other all having less than 2.2% each (Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism). The Jewish people, which is where I identity, make up just 0,4% of the population. Interestingly, Aboriginal people make up just 2,3% of the population, just 0.1% more than any of the minority religions.
9. The median age is 37 years
10. There are eight states and territories: Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland (that's where you find the Barrier Reef), New South Wales (where I live), ACT (where Canberra is), Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania (I have to admit I thought Tasmania was a country when I got to Australia, but then many people here don't know South Africa is a country, they think it's a region).
So Citizenship can't be that far away. Once I pass the test and lodge my application, it's about three months til it gets approved. I think it might be just a bit too short a time to manage before the Spud is born, but I will try. After all, I can't officialy change my name to Shapiro-Liu until I am a citizen, and it would just be so much more convenient to have this sorted before Spud Shapiro-Liu arrives.
I hope that I get to attend a Citizenship Ceremony where my own choir sings. I don't know if I can arrange to attend Canterbury (where 120 nations are represented, sometimes 60 at a time) or whether I will be in Ashfield. I'll wait and see.
My greatest excitement about being an Australian citizen is being part of an incredible multi-cultural nation, expressed so wonderful in the song We Are Australian by Judith Durham:
We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am
You are
We are Australian.
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