The Marshalls, along with three others from the Tea Gardens area became Australian citizens at the Australia Day Ceremony at Club Forster, Forster.

Mrs Marshall said she felt "blessed" and "emotional" to have received her citizenship on Australia day.

"I've been here for 46 years and wouldn't change this place for anything," Mr Marshall said.

"I'm not going to move from here."

Mr Marshall arrived in Australia from England in 1966 with his first wife, seeking "a better life".

He arrived in Sydney and said he wanted to go back home for the first two years but after that he didn't want to return at all.

Mrs Marshall shared a similar experience, finding the first two years in Australia the hardest.

She, her husband at the time and her three children arrived from Chile in 1975 to escape the revolution. When her friend first suggested coming to Australia she said she hadn't heard of it before.

"I thought I was going to Austria," she said.

Mr and Mrs Marshall met in a factory in Sydney where they were both working at the time. They waited ten years to get together to make sure their children were old enough to cope with the change.

The Marshalls moved to the Great Lakes, after enjoying many holidays there. They are enjoying their well-earned retirement on their property in Bundabah.