From princes to wreaths

We’ve been from the sublime delights of Kalbarri to the somewhat eccentric, and rather dilapidated, surroundings of the Principality of Hutt River.

Many of us will remember the wheat farmer, Leonard Casley, seceding from Australia over what he considered unfair wheat quotas in 1970. At first he called his land the province of Hutt River, but later made it a principality, and he termed himself HRH Prince Leonard and his wife was HRH Princess Shirley. We’d heard about it, and as it had celebrated its 46^th anniversary this year, and is supposed to be a tourist drawcard, decided we’d visit, particularly as it has recently opened a campground.

A sculpture of HRH Prince Leonard near the entrance

to the Principality of Hutt River.

So south we drove from Kalbarri, first having a wonderful visit to the Rainbow Jungle, which specialises in parrots from Australia and overseas. Not very long after that we were in rolling wheat fields. When we entered the 75sq km that is the principality, there was no great fanfare or massive gateway, just an entrance from a dirt road, with welcoming words on a stone fence. The township established there is called Nain, and has what are called the government offices and post office (a simple brick building); a chapel which has become a sort of shrine to Princess Shirley; what is termed a tea-room but it now just has a DIY urn, plus a mementoes room; as well as an educational shrine to Shirley which contains not only some Chinese figures and writings (from Leonard’s great friend Martin Louey) but also Leonard’s mathematical formulae for what he calls the ‘spirit code’ which allows him to assign a number value to every living thing. He has also devised his own Fibonacci series.

It was all a bit tired looking, with several clapped-out caravans, vehicles and farm machinery cast aside near buildings that didn’t seem to be used any more. Graeme, the youngest of the couple’s four sons (there’re also 3 daughters married and living in Perth), mans the post office, stamping visas, putting Principality of Hutt River (PHR) stamps in passports . . . John has his with him, mine is still at home . . .selling their special stamps and generally providing info. We could see his father sitting in a chair in the tea-room, talking to other visitors but by the time we got there, after settling in the campground, he had obviously gone to a 90-year-old’s afternoon nap in the modest little house nearby that he shares with Graeme.

Prince Graeme told us the other brothers look after the farming side of the enterprise, and with the eldest almost 70, they are all hoping to retire and that some of the grandchildren will take over. But whether they want to keep growing wheat, lupins, and dorper-damara cross meat sheep . . . and reinvigorate the tourist side of the business . . . is another matter.

One suspects the other brothers might keep their distance from the HQ of the principality, as they have homesteads in far-flung parts of the property. It will be interesting to see what happens when Leonard dies, despite Graeme’s optimistic assertion that there was a succession plan in place.

It was beautifully peaceful in the campground, with only about 6 other travelling rigs there. The next

The lake really is pink.

morning we drove on south through this northern part of the WA wheatbelt, and on the coast came to the extraordinary Pink Lake. This is coloured by some microalgae that is actually harvested for food colouring and Vitamin A.

Fairly soon we came to Geraldton, where John had to collect a new tail light he’d ordered; but we avoided the CBD and headed south to Dongara where we managed to get a spot in a lovely little caravan park. It has a lot of cabins and permanent residents, but its sites each have an en suite bathroom. There was a surprise when we opened the door, as not only did it have a spacious shower, and separate toilet, but also a washing machine!

When we sought advice from the local visitors’ centre, we were issued with a wildflower kit with info and maps and one of the employees assured us she’d made a run east into wildflower country only the weekend before so gave us great advice.

Beside a pathway in the conservation park.

The next morning we set off for an eight-hour journey among small towns in the wheatbelt, just about overdosing on wildflowers. The landscape was impressive . . . green wheat to the horizon in all directions; contrasted often with great paddocks of yellow-flowering canola. On the side of the roads and edges of the cultivations, wildflowers were growing, and some fallow fields also were bright yellow at ground level with wildflowers.

We went through the Coalseam Conservation Park, where coal was first mined in WA and where one can still see it exposed, and it was  knee-deep in yellow pompom everlastings.

Further north we followed directions to a tiny village of Pindar, and then a dirt road for 10km to see the famous wreath flowers. These grow in the shape of a wreath in the sandy soil beside the road, and are so famous that there were cars and caravans pulled up everywhere with people trying to capture the spectacle on camera.

By the time we returned to Dongara we had driven a round trip of around 400km, been through several small towns; helped the economy of one by spending up big at the bakery; and then just outside Dongara we called to see the son of one of John’s friends back east. John and Danny had last seen each other in 2006.

Next post: Further south to New Norcia.