The group was naturalised during a ceremony in Local Government Week at the Hawks Nest Community Hall.

Great Lakes Council mayor John Chadban conducted the citizenship ceremony on July 31.

Those who took the plunge included Wendy, Gary, James and Holly Baker, Laila Manners, Elizabeth Deane, Barbara Stevens and Sharon Doyle.

North Arm Cove resident, Barbara Stevens said she calls Australia home and this was just to make it official.

"Australia is the best country, it's just fabulous," Barbara said.

Barbara came to Australia from Belfast in Northern Ireland in 1973 with her family.

At the time she hated her parents for bringing her to Australia and making her leave her family and friends behind.

That has since changed.

Barbara has travelled around the world a lot. Each time she returns to Australia she thinks how lucky this country really is.

"We came from Northern Ireland and to become Australian I didn't have to give up my British citizenship or my Irish roots," Barbara said.

This was the third time Barbara has had the paperwork to become an Australian citizen.

Barbara and Elizabeth Deane decided that they would become Australians together because they had both arrived in the country in the same year and they believed it was time they became Australian.

At the ceremony a speech from Australian Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, was read out.

The speech highlighted the idea of a multicultural Australia pointing out that becoming an Australian citizen was not about giving up where you were born, but about joining the Australian community.

The Meals on Wheels committee hosted an afternoon tea after the ceremony.