"AUSTRALIA is everything."
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That's the belief of Nelson Pangilin, one of Tamworth's newest Australian citizens.
People from 22 countries gathered for a ceremony at the town hall on Thursday and no one there had ever seen so many new Australians in the one place in Tamworth before.
Nearly 150 people from Vietnam to Denmark, Nigeria to New Zealand, swore allegiance to Australia as citizens for the first time.
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One by one they walked up to the stage at Tamworth's town hall, often to cheers from family and friends in the audience, as their names were called out.
It took more than an hour for the huge crowd to accept their new citizenship documentation from mayor Russell Webb.
Some 38 Filipinos became Australian citizens at Thursday's ceremony, marking the largest group.
Mr Pangilin emigrated to Australia eight years ago, and lives in Tamworth with his family of six.
He said the ceremony was "overwhelming".
"Australia is everything," he said.
"It's very equal, the people, the cultures. And of course, the opportunity. It's really brilliant."
The hospital employee said the Tamworth community was getting so big because so many Filipino people had looked to Australia for a better future.
Jeyfty Amora said he'd moved for the same reason many from the country do - for "a better job" and a "better future for the family".
The abattoir employee has lived in Tamworth for eight years now.
He said the first thing he's going to do as an Australian citizen was the ultimate true-blue pastime: head to the beach.
"There's no limits when it comes to everything that you want to do. You can say I'm Australian, just like any other," he said.
Cr Webb, who presided over the ceremony, told the crowd it was the largest citizenship ceremony he'd ever seen.
"How great is it for a city like ours, that has such a multicultural feel about it, with 87 different nationalities living in our region and working in our region and adding value to our region, to see so many of those people that have come from overseas to actually decide to make Australia their home and become citizens of Australia and make Tamworth their home," he told the Leader after the ceremony.
Multicultural Tamworth leader Eddie Whitham said it was almost the biggest display of cultural diversity he'd ever seen.
"In the countryside, I've never seen one like that," he said.
He said the new Australians were TAFE teachers, pharmacists, accountants, cleaners, abattoir workers and shopkeepers, and they'd bring new skills and ideas to the city.
Tamworth Regional Council events officer Melissa Millsteed said there were 270 people in attendance, including guests.
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