Micronation declares its borders are closed

As a shearer took the fleece off 50 lambs, Hutt River’s second sovereign continued to meet and greet visitors as he prepared to close the micronation’s borders for the first time in 50 years last Friday. Prince Graeme Casley said closure could be in place for “six weeks or six months”, as family members worked to restructure the business. “You can see drastic measures with the amount of feed for the long, dry summer so we’ve moved sheep off, but we’ve still got quite a few here,” he said. “And as the cropping is diminishing with the rainfall over the last 20 years, so have profit margins.” The other main income source has been tourism as visitors call in each day. But Prince Graeme said he needed the flexibility to travel to meetings as the family explored new business models. In 2017 the Australian Taxation Office successfully prosecuted the late Prince Leonard (Leonard George Casley) and elder brother (Arthur Wayne Casley) for more than $3 million in back taxes. “It took a lot of resources and time and distraction from what we wanted to get on with and involved with,” he said. “But even when Prince Leonard was still around we were discussing the future and moving forward.” Prince Graeme said the family expected to know within six weeks when they could reopen to the public. “No matter what happens, the history has been written,” he said. “There was a Hutt River, there was a Prince Leonard, it’s all documented in the archives.”