Australia has been an independent nation for more than 118 years, but citizenship in this country is a much newer concept.
Australia officially became the Commonwealth of Australia on the 1st of January 1901, when the British Parliament passed legislation allowing the six Australian colonies to govern in their own right as an independent country.
But it wasn't until the 26th of January 1949 -- almost five decades later and after two World Wars and a Great Depression -- that people living in Australia could officially be known as Australian citizens.
Seven men from Czechoslovakia, Spain, Denmark, Greece, France, Yugoslavia, and Norway were the first people to gain citizenship.
In a ceremony on February the 3rd 1949 in front of then-Prime Minister Ben Chifley, the men renounced their old citizenship and swore an oath as new Australians.
The federal parliament passed the Australian Citizenship Act on the 21st of December 1948.
The act detailed that "Australian citizenship is a common bond, involving reciprocal rights and obligations, uniting all Australians, while respecting their diversity".
Prior to 1949, people living in Australia were known legally as "subjects" under the British Empire, rather than citizens of Australians.
University of Melbourne Emeritus Professor Brian Galligan says the push for formal citizenship was in part disillusionment with the British Empire following World War 2 and the need for a greater sense of national unity.
After a period of low migration during the World Wars and Great Depression, the late 1940s saw an influx of new migrants in the country.
Professor Galligan says those migrants who became Australian citizens had to renounce their previous citizenship as a way to ensure their loyalty to their new country.
"The idea was that if you were a citizen of country A, a citizen of Australia, you should have total allegience to that country. And if you were a citizen as well of another country then you would have a divided allegiance. So when it came -- and I suppose this was fresh in people's minds -- but when it came to war and serving your country, if you were also a citizen of another country that was on the other side, then there would be problems and you would have dual allegiance to those countries. You know, you would have sections of the population that couldn't be trusted and so on," Dr Galligan says.
