Thousands of jubilant members of Australia's South Sudanese community were the first in the world to vote in a referendum that could see the birth of a new nation, SBS' Robert McClean reports.
Long queues of singing and dancing Sudanese gathered at polling stations across the country. With limited polling stations, some came from as far as Northern Territory and South Australia
"Each one of us here has a relative or a friends or a family member that has lost his life due to the war in Sudan so it is a very good thing for us as people of southern Sudan to really decide today whether we want to be called second class citizen in our own country," one voter said.
60,000 Sudanese are registered to vote outside their country, many of who fled war as refugees.
"I grew up during the war, I became a mother during the war and I have never been in peace until I came to Australia but today is a day, an opportunity of lifetime for me to be able to vote, you know to bring the peace that we have been striving for centuries," one voter said
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