Graham and Edith 2011 Trip: Day 69

Had a great day today, the weather was fine but very windy. If you could get out of the wind it was actually very warm, but in the wind it was quite cold.

We went for a drive with Shane and Jodie this morning and had a look around the farm that we are staying on. The property is quite large - 5,000 acres - but is not farmed at all at the moment. We found an old homestead about 2 km from here with so much old machinery and cars - it makes one wonder how people can just let things go to ruin. There must be thousands of dollars of things around but nobody seems concerned about it. We were absolutely amazed at what is left around to rot.

After our drive around the farm we went to the Principality of Hutt River which is about 10 kms from here - now I am not sure how many of you will have heard of this principality - a very interesting place to say this least. I had heard of it sometime ago - I think I saw HRH Prince Leonard interviewed on TV.

The territory was seceded on 21st April 1970 - the reason for this was that the Western Australian Government brought in Wheat Quotas in 1969, they gave the Casleys a quota of the eqivalent to 100 acres. The quotas were given in October 1969 for that year, after the crops had been grown; the Casleys had thousands of acres of wheat.

The whole story is quite long and complicated - at one point Prince Leonard declared war on Australia and three days later declared the state of war was now ceased.

The history of the whole place is quite interesting and far too complicated to put in a few words - there is an internet site - www.principality-hutt-river.com - which if you are interested will tell the whole story.

We actually met Prince Leonard and his wife Princess Sylvia - they are both in their 80's but are very interesting people to listen to. When we were there a tour group arrived and Prince Leonard conducted a tour - he asked us for our passports and when we said we did not have them with us he said we had entered illegally. He actually stamped the passports of the visitors - I got a visa permit which gave me permission to visit the Principality. The Principality has its own coins, notes and stamps - which are all produced in Canada for some reason. You can only post mail from Hutt River if you put their stamp on it. The principality even boasts its own cricket club and cycle team. There is a caravan park on the property - not sure that I would recommend it - sandy corrugated roads lead into it.