Equal Housing, Uganda

An admirable conviction

An admirable conviction

As we plan to move to our own home (in Uganda), we shall be donating all our current office furniture — not to those who will sell it, but to those whose main hindrance to starting a modest office has been furniture. We hope it becomes a seed for someone else to begin. 🌱

In 1970, an Australian wheat farmer got into a dispute with his government over how much wheat he could sell. So he declared his farm an independent country. The government ignored him. He ruled it as a prince for the next 50 years. His name was Leonard Casley. He owned a 75 square kilometre property in Western Australia, several hours north of the city of Perth. The Australian government had set new wheat quotas that would let him sell only about one percent of his crop. When he protested, he claimed officials threatened to forcibly take his land. So he found an obscure British law from 1495 called the Treason Act, which said a “de facto king” of any territory could not be charged with treason. He declared his farm a sovereign nation, named himself Prince Leonard, and notified Australia. Under Australian law at the time, the government had two years to formally object. They didn’t. Leonard took the silence as legal recognition. He went all in. He printed his own currency. He printed his own stamps. He issued his own passports. He gave his wife and seven children royal titles. He built a tiny stone palace. He set up embassies in nine countries. In 1977, when the Australian Tax Office kept demanding taxes, he formally declared war on Australia. A few days later, having received no military response, he declared a ceasefire and announced victory. The tax demands stopped. Tourists started showing up. At its peak, his “country” had 40,000 visitors a year. He stamped their passports for them. He sold them his stamps and coins. In 2016, on the principality’s 46th anniversary, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom personally sent him a letter wishing his country a happy birthday. Leonard ruled for 47 years. He passed away in 2019 at 93. His son Graeme took over, but the tax bill had grown to over three million Australian dollars and Covid had stopped the tourists. In August 2020, the Principality of Hutt River formally rejoined Australia.