Glass
6th December 2010, 05:26 AM
Well I just got back from a fairly quick trip to visit the Hutt River Province in Western Australia. Hutt River Province is a successionist state in the mid west of Western Australia about 600 odd kilometres north of Perth.
I've spent the last couple of years researching the various Sovereign man or Freeman concepts that are out there on the net. I can go into the specifics of the different types later but I was at a point where I wanted to find out what Prince Leonard, of Hutt River Province had done. It was important to find out why he had succeeded. It was also important to find out how he did it and whether it could be done by other people.
Hutt River Province has been in existence for 40 years now. This year is a major celebratory year. The prince is in his mid 80's and effectively is still going strong and without harrasment from the Australian governments, although there are some outstanding issues with respect of some kind of recognition. This is not to say he has not been recognised, its just that there are some issues with Brittish citizens living in Australia who came here before 1949 and their loss of Brittish citizenship and non recognition as being Australian citizens.
Hutt River Province is about 60 kilometres south east of a small coastal town called Kalbarri. This google map shows how far Kalbarri is from Perth (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=kalbarri&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=&hnear=Kalbarri+Western+Australia&ll=-27.722436,114.169922&spn=10.202609,19.753418&z=6).
I tried to arrange an actual meeting with Prince Leonard before going up there. The reason was that we had a fair few questions and as he is open to the public, I didn't want to steal his time away from the tourists going there. We sent a few emails about meeting with him but at some point he stopped responding. We decided to go as tourist and actually got about a half an hour or so to ask him some detailed questions. During that time we worked out why he stopped responding. I think near the end of our time he did make the connection with our emails and us being there.
I figured he probably gets lots of inquiries from people dreaming of succeeding and his situation and what he did is unique to his own circumstance. He basically discourages people from hoping that they can follow what he did and I think from what he explained to us about his situation his attitude is the right one. He does not want people to get into serious trouble and it's possible that without due cause you could end up in a treasonous situation. That used to be a death sentence, now it is a life sentence.
He basically succeeded because the government broke the law and put him in a very difficult situation. They were basically going to wipe out his farming livelihood. They set production quotas at 1/10 of his capacity after advertising they would be set at 9/10. They also did not have a law to do this, only a proposed law so they acted illegally. He also had spent quite a bit of his youth studying statutes and knew how to research to find the laws, precendents and methods he needed to succeed. So it was like he had prepared without knowing he would need it some 25 years later
Hutt River Province is here: Hutt River Principality (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hutt+river+province&sll=-28.386568,114.768677&sspn=2.416206,4.938354&ie=UTF8&hq=hutt+river+province&hnear=&z=8&cid=16847773683786397246&iwloc=A)
His solution was not a single step process. The government challenged him directly by meeting with him in Parliament house and then also in Court. He used several principals over several years and court appearances to finally end their challenges. To completely end their challenges he used some elements of natural law and principles of self preservation. He also declared war on the state, for about 3 or 4 days which gave him the ability to access the Geneva convention. The Geneva convention makes it illegal for all signatories to a) ignore another who proclaims to be a signatory or adopter of the conventions and b) to interfere with another party who is protecting territory and the people of that territory in the name of the Geneva convention where it has been subject to a conflict.
His claim of conflict or declaration of war arose out of a situation where by the economy had been captured i.e. the government was applying quotas on his production that were forcing a 90% reduction on his income and doing so without the legal right to do so.
Because of his specific situation he was able to succeed. This make him a bit unique in the sphere of Freeman and Sovereign examples.
What is also interesting is that in becoming a principality there are specific historical precedents and obligations. Principalities go back hundreds and hundreds of years. Because there is a Queen (apparently) he offered some kind of allegience to the Queen which basically meant he was not going to declare war on her. It was not responded to which in turn gave him some kind of cured notice in that the Queen basically aquiessed and accepted his claim. Similar to the historical issueing of notices and if no one objects you are good to go.
He also does a number of things which are required like establishing a capital. Forming a government. Raising the Flag. A whole stack of things that are needed under old Brittish law.
He's an interesting guy. Very sharp witted. I visited there at least once and possibly twice when I was a kid. I think what he had done was quite hush hush for many years because I believe he had been around as a principality for at least 15 years before I first went there and at that time it was just being talked about and a few news stories appeared. This is how we found out about him and decided to go visit back some 25 years ago. This year they are celebrating their 40th year.
his property is basically a farm. He has his farm house, his old sheds. I think these days his farm machinery is stored somewhere else and looked after by the kids. he has built a chapel, a tourist information/souvenir centre, a post office and imigration facility. You can get your passport stamped or you can buy an entry visa like I did. I think he makes quite a few dollars from stamps, visas and souvenirs.
He has tax free status with the Australian Tax office as he is a non resident. He has a lot of diplomatic memorabilia. Letters and gifts from the Chinese President and several other high profile politicians. He has accepted several invitations to visit with the Pope. He has been involved with assisting NASA with some kind of mathematical analysis I can't begin to understand. To me the place is a typical Australian farm in the outback. It is not a palace. Just the guys home. Modest and what lots of farms look like. The buildings he has built are functional but it's the outback and he's an old guy.
Anyway I was disappointed in that his path isn't something many people will be able to follow. I was gratified that he doesn't encourage people to do what he did because he knows it was special circumstance and he doesn't want people to get into serious trouble. It was also good to know that the key to finding the answer comes from researching and understanding the law more than anything else. Being a Freeman or a Sovereign doesn't just come from a dream it comes from really understanding the law as they made it and make it today and then seeing the possibilities and opportunities that you may discover from gaining that deeper knowledge.
It was both a good and not so good trip. We spent a short time in Kalbarri. At the moment it's a sleepy coastal town but in 2 weeks it will be bursting at the seams with holidayers. Got a bit drunk on Saturday night at one of the local pubs, went to another pub on the stagger home and found ourselves in the bar where the 20 somethings hang out. I wished I was 20 years young again. There were some beautiful young women there. Makes you feel old to see all the young people and realise they really are still just children but it does give some hope that things have a future. It would just be nice if we were all free and I'm still confident the answers are out there to be found.
You can still find inspiration even if you don't find the answers that you want.
I've spent the last couple of years researching the various Sovereign man or Freeman concepts that are out there on the net. I can go into the specifics of the different types later but I was at a point where I wanted to find out what Prince Leonard, of Hutt River Province had done. It was important to find out why he had succeeded. It was also important to find out how he did it and whether it could be done by other people.
Hutt River Province has been in existence for 40 years now. This year is a major celebratory year. The prince is in his mid 80's and effectively is still going strong and without harrasment from the Australian governments, although there are some outstanding issues with respect of some kind of recognition. This is not to say he has not been recognised, its just that there are some issues with Brittish citizens living in Australia who came here before 1949 and their loss of Brittish citizenship and non recognition as being Australian citizens.
Hutt River Province is about 60 kilometres south east of a small coastal town called Kalbarri. This google map shows how far Kalbarri is from Perth (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=kalbarri&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=&hnear=Kalbarri+Western+Australia&ll=-27.722436,114.169922&spn=10.202609,19.753418&z=6).
I tried to arrange an actual meeting with Prince Leonard before going up there. The reason was that we had a fair few questions and as he is open to the public, I didn't want to steal his time away from the tourists going there. We sent a few emails about meeting with him but at some point he stopped responding. We decided to go as tourist and actually got about a half an hour or so to ask him some detailed questions. During that time we worked out why he stopped responding. I think near the end of our time he did make the connection with our emails and us being there.
I figured he probably gets lots of inquiries from people dreaming of succeeding and his situation and what he did is unique to his own circumstance. He basically discourages people from hoping that they can follow what he did and I think from what he explained to us about his situation his attitude is the right one. He does not want people to get into serious trouble and it's possible that without due cause you could end up in a treasonous situation. That used to be a death sentence, now it is a life sentence.
He basically succeeded because the government broke the law and put him in a very difficult situation. They were basically going to wipe out his farming livelihood. They set production quotas at 1/10 of his capacity after advertising they would be set at 9/10. They also did not have a law to do this, only a proposed law so they acted illegally. He also had spent quite a bit of his youth studying statutes and knew how to research to find the laws, precendents and methods he needed to succeed. So it was like he had prepared without knowing he would need it some 25 years later
Hutt River Province is here: Hutt River Principality (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hutt+river+province&sll=-28.386568,114.768677&sspn=2.416206,4.938354&ie=UTF8&hq=hutt+river+province&hnear=&z=8&cid=16847773683786397246&iwloc=A)
His solution was not a single step process. The government challenged him directly by meeting with him in Parliament house and then also in Court. He used several principals over several years and court appearances to finally end their challenges. To completely end their challenges he used some elements of natural law and principles of self preservation. He also declared war on the state, for about 3 or 4 days which gave him the ability to access the Geneva convention. The Geneva convention makes it illegal for all signatories to a) ignore another who proclaims to be a signatory or adopter of the conventions and b) to interfere with another party who is protecting territory and the people of that territory in the name of the Geneva convention where it has been subject to a conflict.
His claim of conflict or declaration of war arose out of a situation where by the economy had been captured i.e. the government was applying quotas on his production that were forcing a 90% reduction on his income and doing so without the legal right to do so.
Because of his specific situation he was able to succeed. This make him a bit unique in the sphere of Freeman and Sovereign examples.
What is also interesting is that in becoming a principality there are specific historical precedents and obligations. Principalities go back hundreds and hundreds of years. Because there is a Queen (apparently) he offered some kind of allegience to the Queen which basically meant he was not going to declare war on her. It was not responded to which in turn gave him some kind of cured notice in that the Queen basically aquiessed and accepted his claim. Similar to the historical issueing of notices and if no one objects you are good to go.
He also does a number of things which are required like establishing a capital. Forming a government. Raising the Flag. A whole stack of things that are needed under old Brittish law.
He's an interesting guy. Very sharp witted. I visited there at least once and possibly twice when I was a kid. I think what he had done was quite hush hush for many years because I believe he had been around as a principality for at least 15 years before I first went there and at that time it was just being talked about and a few news stories appeared. This is how we found out about him and decided to go visit back some 25 years ago. This year they are celebrating their 40th year.
his property is basically a farm. He has his farm house, his old sheds. I think these days his farm machinery is stored somewhere else and looked after by the kids. he has built a chapel, a tourist information/souvenir centre, a post office and imigration facility. You can get your passport stamped or you can buy an entry visa like I did. I think he makes quite a few dollars from stamps, visas and souvenirs.
He has tax free status with the Australian Tax office as he is a non resident. He has a lot of diplomatic memorabilia. Letters and gifts from the Chinese President and several other high profile politicians. He has accepted several invitations to visit with the Pope. He has been involved with assisting NASA with some kind of mathematical analysis I can't begin to understand. To me the place is a typical Australian farm in the outback. It is not a palace. Just the guys home. Modest and what lots of farms look like. The buildings he has built are functional but it's the outback and he's an old guy.
Anyway I was disappointed in that his path isn't something many people will be able to follow. I was gratified that he doesn't encourage people to do what he did because he knows it was special circumstance and he doesn't want people to get into serious trouble. It was also good to know that the key to finding the answer comes from researching and understanding the law more than anything else. Being a Freeman or a Sovereign doesn't just come from a dream it comes from really understanding the law as they made it and make it today and then seeing the possibilities and opportunities that you may discover from gaining that deeper knowledge.
It was both a good and not so good trip. We spent a short time in Kalbarri. At the moment it's a sleepy coastal town but in 2 weeks it will be bursting at the seams with holidayers. Got a bit drunk on Saturday night at one of the local pubs, went to another pub on the stagger home and found ourselves in the bar where the 20 somethings hang out. I wished I was 20 years young again. There were some beautiful young women there. Makes you feel old to see all the young people and realise they really are still just children but it does give some hope that things have a future. It would just be nice if we were all free and I'm still confident the answers are out there to be found.
You can still find inspiration even if you don't find the answers that you want.