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HAPPY CEREMONY: Hataiporn Wetchakaruna and daughter Dream, Mayor Clare McLaughlin and Sirikan Barrett.
A large group of family and friends gathered at the City of Whyalla chamber recently to celebrate the citizenship ceremony of three community members.
Hataiporn Wetchakaruna and daughter Phetnamnueng (Dream) were joined by Sirikan (May) Barrett as they took their vows with Whyalla Mayor Clare McLaughlin and the contingent of nearly 20 well-wishers.
For Hataiporn and Dream it was a proud day after coming to Australia in 2012 from Ubon Ratchathani which is one of the four major cities of Isan, also known as the "big four of Isan" in Thailand. The city is on the Mun River in the southeast of the Isan region of the country.
Settling in Whyalla with husband Kym Elefsen, Hataiporn said the best part of Whyalla was the people with Dream currently enjoying her Grade 7 studies.
“Whyalla people are so nice and Dream likes her school,” she said.
May Barrett has been in Australia since 2013 having moved to Whyalla from the northern New South Wales city of Newcastle when her husband Andrew secured a job at the steelworks.
May hails from the bustling city of Bangkok in Thailand. Bangkok is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. It occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has a population of more than eight million.
“Whyalla is so nice,” May said.
“It’s not too big but not too small and I definitely don’t miss the traffic in Bangkok.”