State Premier Peter Gutwein shared pieces of his family's history about how they became Australians and made it to the Apple Isle with 160 new Australians in Launceston earlier this year.

It was a day filled with many emotions for the 160 people becoming Australian citizens as candidates made a pledge to the country, their final step in the citizenship process, before Mayor Albert van Zetten presented them with citizenship certificates.

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But it was a step familiar to Mr Gutwein, 55, who was born in England in 1964 and relocated to Tasmania with his parents at a young age.

Before he became an Australian citizen himself at 16-years-old.

"I'm proudly the migrant son of a migrant's son," he said.

"My grand father in the mid-1950s migrated with his family and his son, my father, from post-war central Europe to Britain.

"It was there that my father met my mother and they married in 1963, and they had three children as it was in those days in very quick succession.

"In search of a better life for themselves and their children, much like many of you here today, mum, dad and us three kids aged three, four and five left for Australia, specifically Tasmania, on what was then known as the 10 pound POM scheme."

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Mr Gutwein looked out at the newly pledged Australians, who came from all around the world including Zimbabwe, Canada, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Tonga, Iraq and Afghanistan, and ensured they all felt welcome.

"Tasmania is enriched and a far better place because of the cultural diversity that you bring to this country and to this state," he said.

"This ceremony is close to my heart, as I was in the same place as those 160 people who will become Australian citizens today back in 1980.

"When as a 16-year-old teenager I officially became a citizen of Australia under the rules as they were then due to my parents receiving their Australian citizenship.

"No doubt [your] hearts have been here for many years but today makes it official and marks a significant life changing experience."

Mr Gutwein said his parents gained their Australian citizenship and were presented with their certificates in the Launceston City Council's reception room, on the first floor of the current council chambers.

"My parents were immensely proud and I recall as a family having a photo taken to record the event at what was a small studio then on St John Street," he said.

"It's a photo I still have at home on our mantle piece, as mum and dad in their best clothes and all of us children I like to think scrubbed and shiny.

"When I look out at the 160 soon to be Australian citizens here today, back then we were you.

"New Australians excited about the promise of a better future, the promise of a good life not knowing if it would be possible but putting our faith and our hope in the country called Australia.

"I'm pleased to say that that faith and hope wasn't misguided and I am well placed to say that anything is possible."

Mr Gutwein said his family arrived in Melbourne in early 1969 after an eight-week voyage at sea and got to know the ins-and-outs of Launceston's weather patterns early on.

"Interestingly enough after finally arriving in Melbourne and getting off the boat and boarding a flight to Launceston, heavy fog at Launceston Airport meant that we couldn't land and we then went to Hobart," he said.

"We then spent the last four hours of nearly an eight-week journey on a bus travelling to Launceston."

His family settled in Nunamara near Launceston and he attended Myrtle Park Primary School and later Queechy High School.

"Our family grew very quickly to six children, keeping mum very busy at home," Mr Gutwein said.

"Dad worked a number of jobs to keep us all fed, he was a baker during the night up at six-ways.

"He stacked animal skins ... at St Leonards and on the weekends he sold firewood to raise extra money for what was a very large and growing family.

"They worked hard together to make a better life for their children and in the age of hard work and sacrifice they were successful."

After high school Mr Gutwein went on to study at Deakin University in Melbourne where he gained a Diploma of Financial Planning and post graduate qualifications in business administration.

From there he worked in senior management positions in financial services across Australia and in Europe.

Before his association with the Liberal party began in 1996 when Mr Gutwein managed former Bass Liberal MHR Warwick Smith's election campaign which saw Mr Smith returned to Parliament.

Following the election of the Howard government, Mr Gutwein spent two years as an adviser to Tasmanian Senator Jocelyn Newman who was the Minister for Social Security.

Mr Gutwein was first elected to the Tasmanian Parliament in the 2002 election.

He rose through the ranks and found himself Treasurer and Minister for Minister for the Environment, Parks and Heritage last year.

He resides in the Tamar Valley with his wife Amanda and two children Millie and Finn.

Following the resignation of Will Hodgman, Mr Gutwein put his hand up for the state Liberal party's leadership and won.

He was sworn in on January 20, 2020.

Mr Gutwein, the migrant who became the leader of Tasmania.