Dwarf private state disappeared due to COVID-19

The self-proclaimed “principality of the Hutt River”, located in Australia and existed for half a century, as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, announced the end of its existence.

The founder of the “principality” was in 1970 a certain Leonard Casley. Using a loophole in Australian law, he declared a piece of land in the hinterland of Western Australia to be an independent property. The “state” on the Hutt River, covering 75 square kilometers and with a population of less than 30 people, issued its own passports, currency, visas, driver’s licenses, and even had 13 missions abroad, including in France and the United States.

But at the beginning of August this year, the history of the “principality” of Casley ended. The founding father of a small proud country, Leonard Casley, died last year, and his son and heir “Prince” Graham Casley announced the sale of his holdings to the Australian government.

It is sad to see that you have to do away with what your father created half a century ago. But the COVID-19 epidemic has hit hard times in the global economy and healthcare, and we are feeling them too.

The annexation of the “principality of the Hutt River” to Australia has another good reason: the sale of the possessions of the Casley family will help her to pay off debts to the Australian tax service, which the “princes” have not paid for 50 years, and in 1977 due to attempts to collect taxes from them even “declared war” for a few days. Graham Casley’s debt to the tax authorities, inherited from his father, is $ 2.15 million.

Citizens of Australia often proclaim “micro-states” on empty lands, headed by themselves. The Hutt River Principality was the oldest of these.