TWO civil wars, both decades long, have driven thousands of Sudanese people out of their homeland in search of refuge.
A civil war between the mainly Muslim north and mainly Christian south ended in 1973, but the fragile peace was broken when fighting broke out again in the western region of Darfur in 2003.
War and famine have seen more than four-million people flee their homes and two-million deaths over two decades, according to some estimates.
In the decade from 1999 to 2009, more than 24,000 Sudanese refugees settled in Australia.
In the five years to last December, 85 Sudanese people became Australian citizens while living in Melton, Department of Immigration figures show.
Melton's Sudanese population is estimated to number about 100 families, with many moving into the shire after initially settling in other areas of Melbourne.
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