IN 1999, Nancy and Jerry Voll travelled from the United States to Inverell to establish a Bruderhof community in the area. In the subsequent years, the Volls have become integral members of the community as a whole, and last Wednesday, they became Australian citizens.
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With their children, grandchildren, and friends in attendance, the American-born couple announced their commitment to the country and accepted citizenship in a ceremony with Inverell mayor, Paul Harmon. Cr Harmon expressed his pleasure at officiating at citizenship events.
“I must say in my role as the mayor, this is one of the most humbling experiences that I have, in performing my duties, is to actually be part of such a special day for all those who take up citizenship,” he said.
The couple were sent from Woodcrest, the US flagship Bruderhof community in upstate New York, to meet people, answer questions about the Bruderhof and make friends.
They initially stayed with Rosemary and Laurie Breen, who offered them support, friendship and links to many in Inverell.
“We were down here for nine weeks and we were very, very warmly welcomed by everybody in the shire.”
Jerry said the time they were purchasing the property, which is now Danthonia, was memorable.
“The welcome that we received was overwhelming, and has remained that way and grown, so that when we have a function out at our place, like Grandparents’ Day coming up on November 2, we always get a very good crowd,” he said. Nancy said it wasn’t difficult for both of them to make the decision about citizenship.
“Citizenship, because we have a vested interest now. Our community is here in Australia, and of course once we are citizens, we are free to come and go as our church needs us,” she said.
Jerry said over half of the adults at Danthonia are Australian citizens.
“And so we also wanted to take that step to show our solidarity with the people here, to really make this our home, which it has been for quite a few years,” he said.