(Transcript from World News Australia)

Australia Day has been used to mark so many major moments in the country's 226 years since European settlement that they can tend to get lost in the dust.

But this year marks the 65th anniversary of one of the most notable.

On January the 26th, 1949, Australia, in a sense, stepped out of the shadows.

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"In this hall within a few moments, a Czech, a Dane, a Spaniard, a Frenchman, a Yugoslav, a Norwegian and a Greek will take an oath of allegiance and receive their naturalisation certificates under the new Nationality and Citizenship Act, which became law on Australia Day, a few days ago ... "

Australia Day 65 years ago, it is now.

It was Australia Day 1949, and it was the day Australians became, well, Australians.

Following the lead of Canada and other Commonwealth nations, the Australian government on that day brought into force for the first time the country's own national citizenship.

Formerly identified only as British subjects, those who qualified became both British subjects and Australian citizens as well.

It came amid a push to expand European immigration to Australia beyond Britain and Ireland after the end of the Second World War.

Those born outside the Commonwealth, if they had lived in the country for five years, could now apply for Australian citizenship.

And eight days later, at Canberra's Albert Hall, Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell was welcoming the first seven from the European continent accepted as new Australians.

"This is the first time such a ceremony has been held, and it is important that, on such an occasion, we should pause for just a few moments to consider what it is we do. Seven men from seven different countries and with widely different cultural backgrounds intend, of their own free choice, to become Australian citizens, to assume Australian citizenship."

After stumbling on first try at pronouncing the first man's name, the Minister started again and formally asked him to step forward before Supreme Court Justice William Simpson.

After Justice Simpson likewise botched the name on his first try, he left the candidate to help himself.

(Justice:) "I, then your name ..." (Pucek:) "I, Jan Jandura-Pucek ..." (Justice:) "Renounce my Czechoslovakian nationality ..." (Pucek:) "Renounce my Czechoslovakian nationality ..." (Justice:) "And my allegiance to the Republic of Czechoslovakia." (Pucek:) "And my allegiance to Republic Czechoslovakia." (Justice:) "Now we take the Bible from the associate, please ... I ..." (Pucek:) "I, Jan Jandura-Pucek ..." (Justice:) "Swear by Almighty God ..." (Pucek:) "Swear by Almighty God ..." (Justice:) "That I will be faithful ..." (Pucek:) "I would ..." (Justice:) "I will be faithful ..." (Pucek:) "I will be faithful ..." (Justice:) "And bear true allegiance ..." (Pucek:) "And bear true allegiance ..." (Justice:) "To His Majesty ..." (Pucek:) "To His Majesty ..." (Justice:) "King George the Sixth ..." (Pucek:) "King George the Sixth ..." (fade out ...)

The Czech man went on to pledge allegiance to the King's heirs and successors, to faithfully observe the laws of Australia and to fulfil his duties as an Australian citizen.

With that, he received the first certificate of naturalisation.

Over the remainder of 1949, almost 2,5000 people from more than 35 countries -- mostly Italy, Poland, Greece, Germany and Yugoslavia -- would become Australian citizens.

But, again, it was all about Europe.

Arthur Calwell was two years into his stated plan to draw immigrants from the European continent, a plan that seemed audacious at the time.

But Monash University immigration specialist Andrew Markus says the new openness stopped there and the door was shut to even most Asians already in the country.

"In fact, at that time, the government and Calwell were involved in trying to deport Asian nationals who had been in Australia for a number of years and weren't going. During the Second World War, Asians from various countries, including Indonesia, were basically given temporary residence in Australia. So they were on a ship, you know, that quartered in an Australian port while the Japanese overran their countries. They were allowed to stay in Australia on the expectation that they would leave once the war ended. Some of these people, you know, established ties, got married, and didn't want to leave. So that was what was happening with Asian immigration."

And Professor Markus says the moves to block Asians from citizenship went well beyond those who had arrived in those years.

"If they were born in Australia, my understanding is that they would be Australian citizens if they were born here -- formerly British (subjects) and then transferred without any requirement as Australian citizens. But let's say someone came in 1910 or whenever but wasn't born in Australia and was still in Australia in 1948. (He or she) couldn't become naturalised."

Kim Rubenstein, author of the book "Australian Citizenship Law in Context," says there was plenty of discontent around the Citizenship Act at the time.

But Professor Rubenstein, director of the Australian National University's Centre for International and Public Law, says it actually involved many who qualified to become Australians.

She says that included Members of Parliament.

"What is interesting, I think, is just the very mixed feelings it elicited at the time. It wasn't as if there was an overwhelming and universal desire to create this form of citizenship, because there was a concern by some that it would lead to a dilution of our connection to Britain."

Over the years, that dilution has, indeed, come about, just as Asian immigration and, furthermore, immigration from around the world has come about.

Along the way, the Nationality and Citizenship Act was amended several times to accommodate and reflect the changes.

In 2007, the Australian Citizenship Act replaced it.

One of the biggest changes, though, came in 2002, when the path for Australian citizens to enjoy dual citizenship while living overseas was opened up.

Until then, Professor Rubenstein says, many foreign nationals living in Australia could get dual citizenship more easily than Australians living abroad could.

"In that 1948 Act, one of the other common provisions was that, if you were an Australian citizen and you took up another citizenship, you lost your Australian citizenship. It was as automatic as, just by being born in Australia, at that point you could become an Australian citizen. Just by the action of taking up another citizenship, you lost Australian citizenship. So, for many people, if they were aware of that, they didn't choose that path because, even if they were still living in another country, they didn't want to lose their Australian citizenship."

Professor Rubenstein says the changes show Australia's major evolution from 65 years ago -- a time when opening up to the world meant, simply, opening up to Europe.

"Dual citizenship is another step in our changed thinking of ourselves as a nation and probably reflects Australia becoming conscious of being part of a globalised world."

Last year, more than 120,000 people from close to 200 countries became Australian citizens.