Mayor welcomes new citizens in ceremony

Scottish immigrants (from left) Wilma, Paul, Gary (26) and Ewan (16) Baker after this week's citizenship ceremony in the Clifford Skeggs Gallery. Photo by Linda Robertson.

The first new Dunedin citizens of 2012 included immigrants from Samoa, Scotland, England, Brazil, Fiji, China, Korea, Canada and the Netherlands.

"Our Maori history goes back more than 1000 years, but we are still a young country, with an increasingly diverse culture," Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said.

The new citizens were presented with a kowhai "symbolising the putting down of roots in your new country", Mr Cull said.

The Baker family, from the Scottish borders, south of Edinburgh, arrived in Dunedin nearly seven years ago, but the ceremony was "an important part of becoming New Zealanders", musician Paul Baker said.

"We came here for a better and easier life and we got it," he said.

"The pace of life is a lot better here than back in Scotland. Life is a lot quicker there."

Mr Baker's wife, Wilma, works as a nurse at Dunedin Hospital, while their elder son, Gary, is a diesel mechanic at Goughs Cat and younger son, Ewan, a pupil at Bayfield High School.

The new citizens are: Lemuelu Ah Vong (Samoa), Paul Andrew Baker (Britain), Wilma Baker (Britain), Gary Baker (Britain), Ewan Baker (Britain), Scott McDonald Bayne (Britain), Jane Susette Bayne (Britain), Cameron McDonald Bayne (Britain), Ethan McDonald Bayne (Britain), Julie Esmeralda Joanna Blommaert (Belgium), Mariana Collier Cassini (Brazil), John Robert Clark (Britain), Celia Regina Corteletti (Brazil), Susan Curley (Britain), John Michael Curley (Britain), Thomas William Curley (Britain), Isaac Eun (Korea), David Glyn Geeves (Britain), Helen Grant (Britain), Laurence John Graham Hawker (Britain), David Christopher Hughes (Britain), Byoung Hyun Ko (Korea), Lois Laverne Quesnel Little (Canada), Nancy Patricia Lockington (Fiji), Seong Hui Moon (Korea), Kate Elizabeth Ann Morris (Britain), Michelle Jane O'Sullivan (Britain), Michael Joseph O'Sullivan (Britain), Lucas Joseph O'Sullivan (Britain), Archie Richard O'Sullivan (Britain), Sheila Anne Skeaff (Canada), William Edward Thomas Stamford (Britain), Hermanus Petrus Hugo Maria van Herel (Netherlands), Kevan Paul Vickers (Britain), Helen Ruth Vickers (Britain), Benjamin James Vickers (Britain), Bethany Kate Vickers (Britain), Adrian Lind Coln Wong (Malaysia), Yuwen Yand (China), Xiaohuan Zhao (China), Jiefen Li (China) and Hanxuan Zhao (China).