Born in Sri Lanka, Miss Bandula first came to Australia in 1994 as a Monash University student where she studied Business Administration.

Following the completion of her degree, Miss Bandula returned to Sri Lanka for 10 years where she worked in the Human Resources field.

Prior to her migration to Australia in 2008, Miss Bandula was working as a General Manager – Human Resources at a leading Sri Lankan organisation.

After her migration Miss Bandula lived in Adelaide before moving to a number of regional locations for work with a mining organisation and a shire council.

In December 2010 Miss Bandula moved to Forbes following her appointment as Senior Human Resources Manager at CentaCare Wilcannia Forbes.

“Forbes is a beautiful town with very nice people,” Miss Bandula said.

“The wonderful team at CentaCare and the community in general, makes me feel at home. Coming from a very busy suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka, I love living in the countryside and the opportunity to give back to the community,” she said.

Miss Bandula described becoming an Australian Citizen as an honour and a privilege.

Mayor of Forbes Shire Council, Ron Penny, swore in Miss Bandula as an Australian Citizen in front of some of her CentaCare colleagues and friends.