'It's historical but not hysterical': Travelling Post 38

On my final day of my tour we visited Hutt River Province, an independent sovereign state located in Western Australia. "Never heard of it," i hear you say, not surprising really, neither have many Australians, neither had I until I read about it in a list of '100 things to do in Australia you've never heard of' in Australian Traveller magazine.

The Casley family own a Wheat producing farm in Western Australia but in 1969 the Australian Government wanted to limit the amount of wheat that they family could sell, severely impacting their income. When the Casley family then requested compensation, as due to them according to the law, they put in a request for more land, not money. Two weeks after this request a bill was introduced into Parliament whereby the Government would have the power to resume any rural lands. The family then used British law and found loop holes in that which allowed them to secede and so they created Hutt River Province, an 18,000 acre independent state. Then, when the Australian Government failed to formally recognise the Hutt River Province, they became a Principality to further protect themselves and the former head of the household Leonard George Casley and his wife became Prince and Princess of Hutt River Province. (a fuller account can be found here http://www.huttriver.net/HRHistory.htm) The Province now has consulates and embassies around the world, they stamp your passport, and people can apply for citizenship, they have around 13,000 citizens despite only 6-10 people living in the state. I was informed by my tour guide that he thinks the Hutt River Province is the only country in the world formed without bloodshed.

Upon my visit to the Province I was given a tour of the grounds by the Prince himself. I think the Prince is a genius, you have to be to think of something like secession to solve a land problem. I am not the only one who thinks him a genius. As well as having an acute legal mind he has contributed to the study of mathematics to such a degree that staff members in one US University believed he has made the greatest contribution since Copernicus. He is also very eccentric, funny and a captivating man, even if his Aussie accent is difficult to understand at times. The Australian government is embarrassed by this situation which is why many people haven't heard of it, not helping the matter is a lack of signposts to the Province. There is only one directional signpost on the roads to the Province but it does have border signs in and out of WA/HRP.