* Vote starts in mood of "great expectation"
* Australia one of several countries where Sudanese to vote
CANBERRA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Thousands of southern Sudanese refugees in Australia began casting votes on Sunday in a historic referendum expected to see the war-ravaged south of Africa's largest country emerge as a new nation.
Polling centres in Australia were the first in the world to open, followed later in the day by polling centres in southern Sudan, as well as Britain, Canada, the United States and four of Sudan's neighbours.
In recent years, Australia has accepted thousands of Sudanese refugees and has a population of around 30,000 southern Sudanese, of whom some 9,000 are expected to vote.
Three of five Australian polling stations opened in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra at 8 a.m. on Sunday (2100 GMT Saturday), Mariano Ngor, an official of the South Sudanese Government Mission in Canberra, told Reuters.
"The atmosphere is really an atmosphere of great expectation," Ngor said after casting his vote in Canberra.
"I spoke to one of them who has been at the centre since 3:48 this morning," he said, adding that most voters had lost at least one family member in the 22-year-long war. The U.N. says the conflict claimed the lives of around 2 million people.
The vote has been organised by the International Organisation for Migration under a 2005 peace agreement. If, as expected the vote is for independence, the south will become a new country shortly after an interim period ends on July 9.
(Editing by Michael Roddy)
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