Our beaches and bush are a long way from the Rock Mountains in Colorado, but it is home for David Del Tufo who is proud he can now call himself an Australian Citizen.
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David was one of a group of Shoalhaven residents who took the citizenship pledge at the Shoalhaven City Council chambers last Thursday.
He was welcomed by mayor Joanna Gash and his family and friends with a ‘thong throwing’ ceremony during Monday’s Australia Day Festival at Mollymook Beach.
After meeting in Vietnam and living together in America, David and his Australian wife Nicole Woodford moved to Milton with their two children Ava and Jeremiah eight years ago because they wanted their children to grow up as “Aussie kids” in a small town.
“After our son, Jeremiah, got sick with brain cancer and then passed away, we were so devastated and lost and we talked about moving back to the USA to be closer to family and where Jeremiah was born but the community and our friends here rallied around us and supported and cared for us,” he said.
“They gave us and still give us an anchor in our grief.
“We realised that this was home.
“When Jeremiah was dying he asked us to have more children and so we decided to honour his wish and had two more children, Lorelai and Abel who were both born at local hospitals.”
Last year Nicole asked David if he wanted to go back to Colorado to live and he said no, that he wanted to live here.
“He loves Australia and the people and the opportunities that there are here,” she said.
“He misses his family terribly but we visit them.
“He misses his Rocky Mountains and the snow.”
David works as a senior project manager for a Canberra based company working on the development at HMAS Albatross and was involved with Ulladulla’s Future Park project.
He said he gets “really hot under the collar about Australian politics” and is pleased he will now have an opportunity to vote.
Fred Broughton moved from New Zealand to Australia 24 years ago and his family moved to Milton in 2012.
His father is Maori and his mother is Samoan.
He was born in Auckland New Zealand and said he will always be a Kiwi by heart, but now calls Australia home.
Fred and his wife Stacey have five children; Jarrad, 20, Caleb, 16, Lochlan, 15, Rhys, 14 and Payten, 2.
Fred took the pledge as he wanted to have the right to vote and because his family members are all Australian citizens.
Lauren Woods also took the citizenship pledge.
