All in the family: three years, three new Australian citizens

For a young woman, Angelica Morse has had a lot of adventure­s. Now she is preparing for the biggest yet: becoming an Australian.

‘I really like it here, everyone rallies behind each other’: Angelica Morse at the olive farm where she works in Yarrawonga, Victoria. Picture: Simon Dallinger

For a young woman, Angelica Morse has had a lot of adventure­s. Now she says she is preparing for the biggest one yet: becoming an Australian.

Ms Morse, 33, said she was excited­ about her upcoming citizen­ship ceremony on Australia Day and settling down in rural Victoria to work on an olive farm — and hopefully raise a family, with her parents in tow — as a true-blue Aussie.

“It’s really exciting to know I’ll be an Australian citizen so soon,” Ms Morse said.

“My entire family loves Australia — my Dad became a citizen two years ago on Aust­ralia Day, my Mum became one last Australia Day and I’m becoming a citizen this Australia Day.”

Born in Puerto Rico, Ms Morse attended high school in Singapore and left her family at age 17 to study international business in Malibu, California. She quickly found herself working in the booming venture capital industr­y, sorting the wheat from the chaff for cashed-up companies.

“I worked on researching new start-ups and made recommend­ations as to whether to invest in them or not,” Ms Morse said.

“At that time I did a lot of work with video game companies, helping them do presentations and budgets for pitches.”

It was fun for a while but living a fast-paced, hi-tech, stereotypical millennial lifestyle soon grew old.

“I felt the culture got intense and towards the end I was feeling run down and burnt(-out), so I decided­ to travel for a year and come to Australia, where my ­parents were living,” she said.

Ms Morse’s father, an engineer, had been assigned­ to build a ­munitions ­factory near Yarrawonga, on the Murray River on the border with NSW, and moved from Sweden­ to work on the job — then found he didn’t want to leave.

“Dad grew up in the US in the 1950s and 60s and said that there was a real sense of community, you know, where neighbours looked after one another, but it’s not there any more,” Ms Morse said. “But Australia still very much has that.”

Her parents fell in love with the Victorian town, with a bustling population of 7000 people. Like so many who have come to Australia, Ms Morse’s gap year turned into an extended stay, and eventually a new home.

“I work as a business manager for an olive farm near Yarrawonga. We grow 35,000 trees onsite and make about 150 products from the olives — anything from food to skincare products.

“It’s a family-based business and the work culture is just really great. It’s all about supporting the community and other Aussie businesses, and there’s a great work-life balance.’’

Ms Morse’s partner lives just down the Murray River at ­Allans Flat, where the couple is looking to settle.

“We commute to see each other at the moment but next year we have plans to build a house in Allans Flat, where hopefully we can start a family,” she said.

When asked whether she plans to jet around with her family as her parents did after receiving her Aussie passport, Ms Morse was resolute.

“I don’t think so. I really like it here, everyone rallies behind each other — now is the perfect ­example,” she said.

“After these fires, people immed­iately went to help one another­ and that’s just incredible.”