Hutt River Principality - A Landlocked Micronation in Australia!!!!!

Playing Trivial Pursuit in a hostel one day, we stumbled across two puzzling questions seen above in blue and yellow. (Well, truthfully, I came across a number of questions that eluded me. I am rubbish at Trivial Pursuit but I justified my poor performance by telling myself that any non Australian native would do badly with all the Australian pop culture references, the copyright date on the questions was perhaps a little before my time and I was automatically one down on each card as my chances on getting any sports questions correct, if the answer is not either Ian Botham or Frank Bruno, is next to zero. The lighting wasn’t conducive to proper thinking, the chair I was sat on was too hard to allow proper circulation of blood to my brain, I had other things on my mind and a mosquito was buzzing around my ears. And I had probably had too little sugar. And not enough sleep. And it was too warm to think……. That Phil did consistently better than me must have something to do with the better chair he was sitting on, or something….hum…Phrump!)

Who is Australia’s Princess Shirley married to?
Princess Shirley? Surely the royalty of Australia is that of my own country, right? A Princess Anne, yes, but to my knowledge of the British Monarchy there is no Princess Shirley!
What is this Hutt River Province?



After a little internet research we set off to find this land locked country within Australia. With an appointment to keep, which had been arranged with the Prince via our new found friend at Hamelin Pool, ‘The Prince is expecting us’, I said to our two Israeli travelling girls as we passed their Wicked camper van on the way to Hutt River Province together.
I think the rest of this post starts with the cliché, ‘A long time ago, in a land far away……….’ so here we go. This true story is amazing.

A long time ago in a land far away, on April 21st 1970, on a large farming property 517kms north of Perth, there lived a physicist turned farmer who then turned Prince.



Prince Leonard Casley

Leonard Casley, who had once worked for NASA, bought a 75 square kilometre wheat farm in Hutt River in the 1960s. In November 1969 he received a wheat Quota of 1647 bushels for their 18,500 acre property, which was jointly owned by five families. With this production quota, set by the government to control the supply of goods in order to maintain a certain price level, it would have taken five hundred years to crop the same amount of average wheat that would have been harvested in the previous twenty years. Leonard Casley, thinking this quota draconian, states on his website ‘the gross proceeds would not have even allowed any return for maintenance.’ I was also told by sources, which have to remain unnamed, that of the number of farmers around exceeding their quota, there was one who had managed to find an underhand buyer for the grain. This was great for the one farmer with the connection but for the other farmers it meant selling to the farmer with the connection. Anne is happy to meet the inspiring Prince Leonard
This was not the honest living Leonard had hoped for; surely there must be a way to sell the grain. Of course, he appealed to the government to amend the quota but at the time there was a Wheat Quota Bill before parliament being discussed which contained two clauses: no appeals would be allowed against the wheat quotas; no compensation would be allowed for losses due to quotas. If there was anything to be done about his grave situation it would have to be done before this bill became law.
A learned man, he trawled through the law books to find a way to fight for a right to make a living from his land, but each time he thought he found a loop hole he was yet again advised by the Governor that no changes would be made to the Wheat Quota. He put in a claim for compensation before the clauses became law.
From Leonard’s website:
The Wheat Quota ratio was used to calculate the damage. Under this Quota it would be necessary to purchase an additional 1,800,000 acres of land to be able to crop wheat to the total acreage that could otherwise have been done without the Quota. This additional vast acreage would have cost approximately $52,000,000.
Leonard was not filing this claim for compensation in order to gain money; he simply wanted to draw attention to his case.
The Ministerial moves to counter Leonard’s were to introduce a bill two weeks later whereby the government would have the power to resume his rural lands.

A Giant Stone Carving of Prince Leonard of Hutt River Principality
Leonard was now not only fighting for his right to an income, but to keep his home and land. However - and here comes the real ingenious guarantee that he would get the attention he deserved for his case - he decided to appeal to Queen Elizabeth for independence using a law which states that a self-preservation government may be formed if a threat to the loss of land exists - and he served a formal notice of secession. He had now blocked any resumption of his lands as administrative laws did now not apply to him now and must be re-legislated. The government convened about this potential land locked country. The Governor wrote to Leonard asking that he do nothing until they heard from the Commonwealth of Australia, then the Prime Minister wrote to say he could not intervene and that it was unconstitutional for the Commonwealth to intervene in the secession. Two years passed without anything being done or said and so Leonard Casely formed a government and a board of administrators and he was duly elected to govern the seceded area named Hutt River Province. Leonard Casely coined himself ‘His Royal Highness Prince Leonard I’.

Austeo Secret document from the Department of Territories to a Minister

I'm not sure whether the current Prime Minister has commented about Hutt River, but former Prime Ministers have not acknowledged Hutt River Principality. However, it is nonetheless a micronation which has to be taken seriously, the laws protect Prince Leonard's right to his kingdom and he is recognised by Australia and other nations, whether they want to admit it or not. Just read the above secret document! Those who need clarification about the ambiguity of Prince Leonard’s kingdom can read for themelves just how hazy the Australian government are on the situation.

A whole wall of yearly tax returns shows Prince Leonard exempt from income tax

Prince Leonard, now an old man, greeted us as we arrived in his Province. He advised us that he would be giving a tour of the kingdom first thing in the morning when a tour bus arrives and said we could join the tour then. In the mean time we were to make ourselves comfortable on the grounds and make use of their camping facilities. Dining with the Israeli girls we exchanged many interesting stories of our different upbringings and I probed many questions about experiences of growing up in a kibbutz, a community which pretty much lives based on the principles of communism.

In the morning Prince Leonard took the tour group to his immigration office and stamped their passports, showing us some of the security measures imbedded into our passport pictures under the UV lights and the differences between the passports belonging to different nationalities within the group. He then took us to a display room where the walls were scattered with medals, certificates and communications from royalty and heads of state around the world. Prince Leonard has been recognised around the world by various nations, being given rare gifts and invitations by the leaders of other nations. He proudly shows us his tax receipts which state zero tax to be paid. He is exempt from tax. He has his own stamps made and his royal mint makes Hutt River Principality currency.

Outside the Hutt River Government Offices with Israeli girls Gili and Dafi

After the tour group left he pulled me to one side and showed me some of the work he was currently working on, he has a fascination with numbers and has found some interesting correlations between the numbers of the Fibonacci series see his paper on The Holistic Nature of Reality here

Prince Leonard has captured the hearts of many who understand the hard fight against laws and bureaucracy, the small guy who won a fight against the government and won. He receives letters and phone calls from university professors who wish to learn about the starting of a nation from him and the most incredible thing is he studied the law on this matter so much that he is now considered the vanguard of micronations.
We left Hutt River Principality feeling happy for the guy who won his long fight with the unfair hand he was dealt by the Australian government; it is always nice to hear the underdog winning against all odds.

The Hutt River Principality Church of Nain holds many portraits of Prince Leonard in the back room

A Prince Leonard portrait


Gareth looking regal in Prince Leonards throne






The Casely family tree



Hutt River Principality is a working farm. Visitors are welcome between the hours of 8am and 4pm. There is a basic camp site with abolution block. For more details and to head to Prince Leonard's Webpage please visit the official home site here



A strange blow up santa on a bike in a field near the Hutt River Province turn off