The Principality of Hutt River is an area about 600km north of Perth, Western Australia.
The Principality is about 75 square km in area, consisting of some 18,500 acres of land.
The Principality of Hutt River seceded from Australia on the 21st of April 1970, when Leonard George Casley proclaimed the secession from the state of Western Australia, using the title “Province of Hutt River”.
Although created in 1969, it was not until April 1970 that the secession was claimed, and it was on 21st April 1972 that the province gained legal status.
On 21 April 1970 Leonard George Casley served formal notice on the Premier and the Governor of Western Australia, the Acting Prime Minister, Sir John McEwen, and the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, that his land was to be the Hutt River Province and that he was to be its administrator. In a further application of bush law he changed the province to a principality and declared himself Prince Leonard and his wife Princess Shirley. He had successfully seceded from Australia.
His Majesty Prince Leonard I of Hutt and his wife, Her Royal Highness Princess Shirley of Hutt, are the ruling Monarchs.
Their son, Crown Prince Ian, is the Prime Minister and heir presumptive of the Principality of Hutt River.
An interesting note is that apparently the Territory of The Principality of Hutt River was never actually claimed as British Proclaimed Territory, and neither was Western Australia, leading to a situation that allowed the Principality of Hutt River to actually secede.
The Hutt River Constitution can be directly downloaded from:
Currency of the Principality of Hutt River
Various Coins and Banknotes have been Minted/Printed between 1974 and 2010, with the latest being the 2010 $30 Anniversary coin.
Special Notes:
As can be seen on the obverse of the above coin, and from various news quotes, in August 1999 the star “SAO 119916“, located at RA: 13h 24m 42s, D: + 4° 24’ 08”, was named “HRH Prince Leonard” in his honor.
However, looking at one website http://starcatalog.com/ch/11.html it seems that Star SAO 119916 was named: Jennifer Cimons on 8th Oct, 2005. Another website http://www.astrometry.org gives no name to this star.
Another website quotes:
There’s no service out there that can let you actually give a star a name that will actually be recognized by the astronomical community, as the official names of stars are designated by the International Astronomical Union. www.iau.org
News Articles on the Principality of Hutt River:
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