A former South African man who escaped the 2010 Pike River Mine disaster by a twist of fate was one of 35 people who became New Zealand citizens at a ceremony in Karitane yesterday.
The citizenship ceremony was held at the Puketeraki marae, the first time a Dunedin ceremony had been held outside the central city.
Hercules Marx, who moved to New Zealand from Witbank, near Johannesburg, in 2009 with wife Amelia, daughter Amelia (25) and Thomas (22), was employed by Pike River Coal at the time of the disaster.
However, he was in Dunedin completing electrician registration examinations when the tragedy occurred.
‘‘I was supposed to be on that crew - it was my crew down there,'' he said.
Mr Marx returned to the West Coast after the tragedy, but looked for jobs elsewhere.
He found one in Dunedin in February 2011.
Life in Johannesburg was dangerous because of crime and there was no future there for his children, Mr Marx said.
He did not miss his home country and yesterday was ‘‘mission accomplished'' as far as becoming a New Zealand citizen went, he said.
‘‘This is the ultimate thing for us.''
Siblings Shalini, Jayashanthi and Mohanrao Ramarao, originally from Ipoh, Perak, in Malaysia, moved to Dunedin from Brunei in 2009 to attend boarding school.
Shalini and Jayashanthi attended Columba College and Mohanrao Otago Boys' High School.
Mohanrao said his parents sent him and his sisters to New Zealand so they could get a better education than they would have in Malaysia.
The siblings' sister, Krishna, had also moved to New Zealand and was already a citizen, he said.
The best thing about New Zealand was the people, the siblings said.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said although it was the first time a citizenship ceremony had been held outside the Municipal Chambers, celebrating the occasion on a marae continued a long tradition of Maori welcoming settlers to New Zealand.
He congratulated the new citizens not only for becoming New Zealanders, but also for choosing to live in Dunedin.
‘‘Even though our Maori history goes back 1000 years, we're still a young country, but with an increasingly diverse mix of customs and peoples who have come here from different countries with different languages and different customs,'' he said.
The other new citizens are: Louise Anne Bell, Isabella Stella Anne Le Ber, Andrew John Cornish, James Frederick George Gibbs, Denise Anne Ives, Darren Neil Murray, Stephen Christopher Askew-Ives, William Darren Murray, Claire Louise Jones, Alan Geoffrey Jones, Rebecca Kate Nicholls, Melanie Anne Parata, David John Prior, Louise Elizabeth Rochford Prior (Britain); Manuel Feliciano Jr Castillo Coles, Rose Marie Aldana Coles, Laurizelle Mariae Aldana Coles, Manuel Mikhael Aldana Coles III, Phil Justin Aldana Coles, Kaiser Manuel Yusef Aldana Coles, Nicholas Anwar Aldana Coles, Edwin Gatuslao Tio, Barbara Dar Juan Tio, Bianca Dar Juan Tio (Philippines); Niti Massey (India), Yu-Ting Chang (Taiwan).
