Bathurst's Damien Conlon excited to officially call Australia home

Bathurst Regional Council held its citizenship ceremony at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre on Tuesday evening, with another 40 new people becoming Australian citizens.

For Mr Conlon, it's been 10 years in the making, since he left his hometown of Sligo, in the north west of Ireland in May 2011.

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"I've literally been out here for 10 years, since May 19, 2011 and it's basically taken me the whole duration of that time to get the Australian citizenship," he said.

"I'm absolutely blown away with it. It's finally done. 10 years in the making, I was just lost for words [on Tuesday night]

"There was a lady there, I think it took her 11 years and the one standing next to me, it took them five years."

Mr Conlon originally moved out to Australia on a working holiday visa and since he's been here, he hasn't looked back.

"I came here on a working holiday visa, just to do a bit travel and look for a new way of life," he explained.

"Where my hometown was, it just started going through a recession and there was nothing there for me.

"I was only meant to come out for six months, but I ended up getting a year-long working holiday visa and then things evolved from there.

"I started running a business, then I ran a second business and then it led to a pretty large excavation business."

Mr Conlon has only been in Bathurst for 16 months now, running his excavation business L&D Excavation, even though he was a carpenter by trade.

"I've travelled across Australia, so I've only been in Bathurst for just about a year and four months, but it's lovely," he said."

"I'd settle down here. It's a lovely spot. It's rural, it's beautiful, it's quiet, it's laid back and people are beautiful."

Mr Conlon has only returned home to Ireland once for a holiday since he first came out to Australia a decade ago and doesn't expect he'll return unless it's for another holiday.

He also paid tribute to the all the people that helped make his Australian citizenship possible.

"A big thanks to Immigration Australia and everyone that's helped," he said.

"This is the best country in the world. There's no better place to live, I reckon."

The last Citizenship Ceremony held by Bathurst Regional Council was back on Australia Day, which was also held at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre.

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