A small citizenship ceremony was held at the Leeton Visitor Information Centre recently to officially welcome 21 new citizens, including six children.

The new and now official Australian residents came from varied backgrounds, but each had their own unique story to tell.

One of those was Leeton's own Lynda Boardman - a woman many would recognise in the shire for her volunteering and hard work.

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It was only in recent times that Mrs Boardman learned she wasn't actually an official Australian resident after coming here as a 10-year-old girl with her family from the United Kingdom.

"It was a one-way trip from England ... I just assumed all of the paperwork had been sorted," she said.

"I had my sister and father say we weren't (citizens) and I said 'we are', but then I had to send away for something that required the paperwork and realised they were actually right.

"So I started the process of having it become official. It's funny because I've always considered myself an Australian citizen and I've always voted, I got married. It's pretty amazing it took this long to realise it."

Carl Smith was another who formally became an Australian citizen during the ceremony after moving to the country from America and starting the citizenship process in 2009.

Mr Smith has only recently moved to Leeton with his family and was pleased to call the town home.

"It was a pretty slow process because I was on the partnership visa," he said.

"It feels good to have it all done now.

"I moved to Australia for my wife. I've been in Leeton now for about four to five months now with our family.

"I like the small-town atmosphere. I love the seasons here. We were originally in Townsville, so we love it here."

The recent citizenship ceremony was held under COVID-safe measures, with participants socially distanced and remaining seated throughout.

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