Susan Frederick in front of a poster of the Australian Citizenship Quilt, which includes a quilt square that she made to celebrate her Australian citizenship.
By Sarah Schwager
A CRANBOURNE woman has sewn her place in Australian history.
Susan Frederick was one of 140 people to sew a square of the Australian Citizenship Quilt, which will be displayed at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre later this month.
The British migrant used the square to tell the story of her journey to citizenship and the pride she felt in becoming an Australian.
Mrs Frederick migrated to Australia with her family in 1958 when she was nine years old but it took her 46 years to become an Australian citizen in 2004.
“I am an Aussie. I just never did anything about it,” she said.
Citizens from as far as Singapore, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Africa, Italy and the US have stitched their thoughts on what it means to be Australian.
Mrs Frederick, who has lived in Cranbourne for 23 years, decided to become an Australian citizen to thank her parents for bringing her to the country.
Mrs Frederick came to Australia aboard the Fairsea with her parents and four siblings to start a new life.
Her father was a pastrycook but in Britain he was out of work.
He had been a lieutenant in World War II while her mother nursed during the night bombing blitz over Britain.
“I’ve always admired my parents. They came to a new land with no money, but hope,” Mrs Frederick said.
Her dad opened cake shops and bakeries in Ripponlea, Glenhuntly and Bayswater, with all the children helping out in the kitchen.
“I don’t think Dad would have got ahead in England like he did here,” she said.
Mrs Frederick’s square features a hand-painted bottlebrush on a pale yellow background with a green border on the front and a photo of Susan and her younger sister on the back, taken at the Holmesglen Migrant Hostel in Melbourne on their arrival in Australia.
“I just think of Australia when I see the bottlebrush,” she said.
The quilt is the result of a project launched early in 2005 by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and will feature in the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair from 27 to 30 July.
People were invited to make a patchwork and quilted square on the theme of celebrating Australian citizenship. More than 400 squares were received from around Australia.
“It is out of the memory of mum and dad, the pride of becoming an Australian and getting involved, and showing the government our thanks for giving us a life,” Mrs Frederick said.
“It’s also nice to be accepted for who you are.”
The quilt will end up in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.
