About this item
- Title
- Becoming a citizen
- Content partner
- Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
- Collection
- Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- Description
The custom that recently naturalised new citizens swear allegiance to the Queen and loyalty to New Zealand at public ceremonies began in 1955. At these ceremonies new citizens are presented with certificates by the local mayor, join in singing ‘God defend New Zealand’ and enjoy the mayor’s hospitality. This photograph shows the first naturalisation ceremony held in Wellington. Miroslav Josef Smutny, born in Czechoslovakia, submits his naturalisation certificate for signing by the mayor, R. L.
- Format
- Image
- Date created
- 4 March 2009
- Contributing partner
- Alexander Turnbull Library
- URL
- https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/938/becoming-a-citizen
What can I do with this item?
Check copyright status and what you can do with this item
Check informationReport this item
If you believe this item breaches our terms of use please report this item
Report this itemDigitalNZ brings together more than 30 million items from institutions so that they are easy to find and use. This information is the best information we could find on this item. This item was added on 29 April 2013, and updated 26 November 2025.
Learn more about how we work.
Share
What is the copyright status of this item?
Share, Modify
See below for specifics about how you may use this item.

More Information
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has this to say about the rights status of this item:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/copyright, Crown Copyright administered through the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. All text licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence unless otherwise stated. Commercial re-use may be allowed on request. All non-text content is subject to specific conditions. Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685) Reference: EP/1955/1044 Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
What can I do with this item?
You must always check with Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage to confirm the specific terms of use, but this is our understanding:

Non-infringing use
NZ Copyright law does not prevent every use of a copyright work. You should consider what you can and cannot do with a copyright work.

Share it
This item is suitable for copying and sharing with others, without further permission.

Modify it
This item is suitable for modifying, remixing and building upon, without further permission.

No commercial use
You may not use this item commercially.
What can I do with this item?
Check copyright status and what you can do with this item
Check informationReport this item
If you believe this item breaches our terms of use please report this item
Report this itemDigitalNZ brings together more than 30 million items from institutions so that they are easy to find and use. This information is the best information we could find on this item. This item was added on 29 April 2013, and updated 26 November 2025.
Learn more about how we work.
Share
Related items
Loading...
