FAMILY PORTRAIT… Mila, Mum (Olga), Dad (Sergey) and brother Vasiliy
by Australians (who spoke so rapidly,
she found it difficult to keep up), and
then everything changed again.
She was out with friends at a local hotel
one Friday night in October, 2013.
On the same night, a bunch of Army
officers from RAAF Base Edinburgh
had attended a function nearby.
Braden bought her a drink, and
the rest, he said, was history.
When he was posted to
Singleton 14 months later, he
asked her to come with him.
They lived in Newcastle
and Mila loved it.
They were engaged in January
this year in Russia after Braden
had formally asked her father’s
permission to marry his daughter.
Her parents, brother and grandmother
still live in St Petersburg.
(Braden got the most emphatic nod of
approval from Grandma Alevtina - she
married an officer in the Russian Army).
Mila said she looked forward to
becoming an Australian citizen in
another 12 months (she has to be a
permanent resident for at least four
years before applying) and she looked
forward to voting for the first time.
She has seen several elections, and
accompanied Braden when he
voted in the last State election.
“I can see that it shapes
Australia,” she said.
“People do vote, and it’s
free, and not corrupt.”
Mila said sausage sizzles were
especially good, and Bunnings was
almost compulsory on Saturday
mornings, because of it.
She said another sight that made her
happy was people queuing to vote.
“In Russia, people generally don’t
go, because, what’s the point? It’s
just a waste of time,” she said.
“Here, people line up, and there’s a
sausage sizzle. How amazing.”
But it’s more than that of course,
and she struggles to explain all the
emotion she feels for her adopted
country in just a few sentences.
“Australians smile more than
anybody,” she said.
“They’re very outspoken, and nobody
is afraid to speak their opinion, which,
for me, stood out straight away.
“When I came here, for the first time, I
saw freedom of speech... you can say
pretty much whatever you want.”
She said she loved that Australia had a
very relaxed culture and that everybody,
no matter what they did for a living, or
how much they had, were respected
for what they contributed to society.
But the thing she loved most of all about
the decision to begin a new life here,
was that Australia turned out to have
Braden Holmes, her future husband.
SEPTEMBER 2016 | 45