Horsham’s Duck’s Nuts restaurant executive chef Hugh Goldson moved to Australia seven years ago and officially become a citizen at a ceremony on Monday.

He is now looking at opening a new bar and restaurant in the city, with his wife Nicole.

Mr Goldson grew up in Africa. “My parents were British, but we lived in Kenya,” he said.

“When I was 18 years old, I finished school and I started travelling – that’s when I first came to Australia on holidays.

“I then went back to the UK and became a chef.”

Mr Goldson said he eventually became fed up with life in the UK and in April 2010, he decided to get a Visa and move to Australia.

His first home was in a mining town in central Queensland.

It was there he met Ian Matheison and his family, who would eventually own Horsham’s International Hotel.

“Ian sponsored me and I eventually came with them to Horsham,” Mr Goldson said.

He also met Mr Mathieson’s daughter Nicole, who later became his wife. 

The pair have been living in Horsham for the past 14 months.

“We have settled in Horsham and we will stay for the foreseeable future,” Mr Goldson said.

“We’ve always lived in remote parts of Australia before coming to Horsham – we were at Kings Canyon for a while and the Kimberley region before that.

“Coming to place like Horsham with more than one supermarket is massive, but we love it.”

Mr Goldson said getting his citizenship was a long, but rewarding process.

“I did it all myself, I didn’t get any legal help,” he said.

“You have to get a police check from every place you have lived for more than three months, so it was a lot of work.

“It feels good to be an Australian citizen now.”

With Horsham’s International Hotel up for sale, Mr Goldson is now looking for his next project.

“We want to open something that is not a pub and not a cafe,” he said.

“We want to have social eating but also cocktails – somewhere that is different from anything else in Horsham.”

Mr Goldson said plans for the new venue were still in early stages.

“We are still in negotiations and I will stay on at the Duck’s Nuts until it is sold,” he said. “But we are looking forward to the future – we believe we have the skill set to give Horsham something it doesn’t already have.”