As a fatherless child, Johnson Maker-Adeng fled from war-ravaged Sudan with the remnants of his family.

For four years they trekked through the African wilderness. Then they spent more than a decade in a migration queue.

Finally the family were accepted as refugees and granted entry into Australia and a fresh start.

From traumatic beginnings, Johnson Maker-Adeng is now in the process of fulfilling childhood dreams that not so long ago would have seemed preposterous.

Australian Story has been filming his progress over the last seven years.