She and partner Dr Claire Noonan, like many other couples, have been waiting for the day to finally come when same sex marriage becomes legal in Australia.

On Wednesday, with the Australian people voting for legalisation, Ms Ferguson finally saw her dreams start to become a reality.

“I’ve been wearing this for 10 years,” she said of her engagement ring.

“We’ll be getting married as soon as is reasonably possible.”

She said they had received strong support from Orange people throughout the same sex postal survey campaign.

“What helped me through the whole thing was to have so many of our straight friends stand beside us.

“It has been tremendous, it is very personal.

“We’ve had nothing but positives here in Orange, there was nothing negative.”

The couple, who have two children, said growing up had been difficult, from name calling at school to being accepted in a small country town before moving to Orange.

“It gets to you, it makes it so much harder to deal with,” she said.

The campaign and the result have also had a major impact on the lives of Year 10 Kinross Wolaroi schoolgirls Portia Hawke and Molly Harris.

Too young to vote they decided to have a say in the survey by organising a Yes-vote supporting rainbow event in Robertson Park in September.

About 80 people attended and the pair said this week it had been a positive experience.

“I got a lot of people saying it was so great you did this,” said Portia.

“I didn’t get any negative feedback which was very good.”

She said their whole class listened to the live announcement of the vote result this week.

Molly said they organised the rally because it was an important issue.

“I feel very strongly about the subject and I feel it was the right thing to do,” she said.

You can join in a celebration drink for the Yes vote success at The Union Bank at 6pm on Friday.

Owner Nick Bacon said they were offering a free glass of Angullong sparkling to people to join in the Rainbow Shout.

You can register at www.unionbank.com.au/whatson for the free event.