For the Patels, citizenship means the end of a long journey and the start of a bright future

By Murray Silby

Jan 24, 2023

**Welcome aboard:** The Patels — Parita, seven-year-old Dhairya and Vikeshkumar — become Australian citizens during a ceremony in Shepparton on Australia Day. Photo by Megan Fisher

It has been a long journey for the Patels, but on Thursday, January 26, Australia Day, they will finally become Australian citizens.

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Their journey of more than a dozen years has taken them from a small village called Alindra in the Indian state of Gujarat via Britain and the United States to the citizenship pledge in Shepparton on Australia Day.

“We are excited because we have been waiting a long time because we’ve had a journey of almost 13 years and we’ve been waiting for that moment,” Mrs Patel said.

Formerly wheat, tobacco and rice farmers in India, the Patels now own a share in two Shepparton motels, the Paradise Lakes and Courtyard Motor Inn, and Mrs Patel has been studying business.

They are members of a growing Gujarati community in Shepparton where up to 60 families now make their home.

Like many of those families, becoming Aussies promises two things in particular for the Patels, a finish and a start.

“A bright future, of course a bright future,” Mr Patel said.

While Mrs Patel also sees it as the conclusion of that long journey they have been on.

“Now we finally live here,” she said.

“Everything is good.

“We just thank all of Australia for giving us the opportunity of being Australian now.”