Media
Mr Johann Schlapp and unidentified woman after their naturalisation ceremony
Photo Ref: 24722
Creator: Steele, Mr George
1970s - Council holds a ceremony each year on Australia Day in the Council Chambers. Usually another two or three ceremonies are held throughout the year, also in the Council Chambers. You must attend a citizenship ceremony and make your pledge to Australia to become a citizen. Children under the age of 16 are exempt.(www.lakemac.com.au/council/about/citizenship-ceremonies) From Citizenship in Australia: A Guide to Commonwealth Government Records: Naturalisation - The process of naturalisation which the Naturalization Act 1903 introduced was a simple one meant to encourage European aliens to acquire Australian citizenship. An applicant had to be resident for two years in the Commonwealth or been previously naturalised in Britain. The Act was amended in 1917 to expand the powers of the government and to insist on the loyalty and good character of applicants. Where previously a certificate of naturalisation could be revoked only where it had been fraudulently obtained, the government could now revoke it 'for any reason'. The applicant was required to advertise his intention to become naturalised in a newspaper so that members of the public could lodge confidential objections, and to produce not one but three references. In addition the applicant was to prove that he could read and write English. These conditions remained largely intact under the Nationality Act 1920,although the period of residency was increased to five years in the British Empire and at least one year immediately preceding the application in Australia.With the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 two new provisions were added to the process of naturalisation. The first required aliens wishing to be naturalised to make a declaration of intent at least two years prior to their actual application for naturalisation. This was replaced in 1955 by a six-month delay between application and the grant of naturalisation designed to give the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) sufficient time to screen applicants. The second provided for the registration of British subjects and Irish citizens as Australian citizens.In Australia, security screening of naturalisation applicants remained throughout the 1950s and 1960s a matter of checking an applicant's name against state and central records and undertaking certain sorts of inquiries where an applicant's name was found in ASIO's records. Under the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 British subjects needed to lodge applications to register as Australian citizens, and while screening was at first only cursory, from 1959 similar screening procedures were adopted, and in 1964 the Department of Immigration advised ASIO that treatment should be identical. (http://guides.naa.gov.au/citizenship/chapter2/naturalisation.aspx)
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