A citizenship pledge more than 50 years in the making for Albany’s Amanda Edwards

It took a broken ankle for one of Albany’s newest Australian citizens to find the time to fill out the paperwork after more than 50 years in the country. Amanda Edwards was just seven when she moved to Australia from England with her parents and older brother in 1971. Now she is one of the 24 conferees who will take the pledge of commitment at Albany’s Australia Day citizenship ceremony this year. She said her brother had also only recently become an Australia citizen and that it was partly because their mother never settled well in Australia. “She would have gone home if she had the chance, so she was very much ‘you’re still English, so don’t worry about it’,” she said. “But I’ve done all my schooling out here and all my work out here, my children were born here, and my husband is Australian. “So it seemed like the right thing to do now.” Ms Edwards said she was visiting family in England “when COVID was getting out of control” and she was in more of a panic than her husband to get back before the borders closed. “It is nice to go over there and catch up with family, but this is definitely home,” she said. “The funny thing is that a lot of people thought my husband is more English than I am, and that I was the Australian one.” She has spent the last 26 years living in Albany and her two youngest children, Kevan and Jasmine, did all of their schooling in Albany. “I’ve spent longer in Albany than I have in any other place in the world,” she said. “My two youngest children are in Perth now, and I might end up there eventually when grandchildren come along, but that’s a fair way down the track.” Last year Ms Edwards broke her ankle and it forced her to slow down long enough to fill out all the required forms to become a citizen, because “there is quite a bit to it”. Her family will return to Albany to watch her become a citizen on Thursday. Hall and Prior — where Ms Edwards has worked as a community carer for the past 11 years — also suggested they may organise a bus so all the people she takes care of can help her celebrate. “I can’t think of anything better; if you’re going to do your citizenship, Australia Day is the day to do it,” she said. “It’s a great honour, I’m very proud to say that I live in Australia. “Even when I’m abroad and people ask, ‘where are you from?’ I always say Australia even though I was born in England.”