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You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Places like that fascinate me. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.Australia’s oldest micronation, Hutt River, no longer due to Covid-19The 50-year reign of an Australia-based micronation formed by a “prince” has come to an end. While Prince Leonard initially decided to part ways with Australia due to his disagreement with agricultural regulations, he turned the principality into a unique tourist attraction, with visitors arriving to purchase passports, currency and stamps. And I’ll need your passport.” It’s a long road that leads to the Hutt River, and I’d driven 500km north from Perth to acquire this unusual stamp in my passport. Prince Leonard’s war with Australia only lasted a few days, and this brazen show of force did nothing to deter the Australian Tax Board. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Hutt River micronation rejoins Australia after 50 years of independence Prince Graeme of Hutt River said he hoped the principality's stand against what it saw as unjust bureaucracy would be remembered Although disappointed, successor Graeme Casley says he is “very proud” of what his father has accomplished and hopes his story will be remembered for generations to come.“I have so many wonderful memories of my life here (in the principality),” he said. "My long-range plan is ... to get some sort of letter of understanding from the Australian Government so we can exist without all of these interruptions and control," he said. In recent years, however, it has become known as an eccentric tourist attraction. But, like tourist destinations around the world, the principality has remained vulnerable due to the economic impact of the pandemic. "Of the roughly 100 self-declared independent entities around the world, about a third of these can be found in Australia.End of an empire: Hutt River to rejoin Australia after 50 yearsPrince Leonard Casley, the founder of Hutt River Province, with his wife Shirley. Visitors to the province even left with an official Hutt River stamp on their passports as proof of their travels. Fifty years since declaring its sovereignty from the rest of the country, one of Australia's most well-known micronations is to be dissolved.In an email sent on Monday morning, Sir Richard said it was "with much sorrow that I inform you that this will be the last ‘Significant Days’ list I circulate". "In Australia, there's a strong streak of people wanting to thumb their noses at authority," he said. He abdicated to his youngest son Graeme in 2017, and died last year.While it has never been recognised by the state or commonwealth governments, the Principality of Hutt River received a letter from Queen Elizabeth II in 2016 on its 46th anniversary.The tourist attraction had its own postage stamps and currency, about 10,000 non-resident citizens and a treaty with Indigenous land owners.Visitors to the province even left with an official Hutt River stamp on their passports as proof of their travels.The province was named for the river that ran through the couple's property and there was even a monument erected bearing the Prince's likeness.No strangers to controversy, the "royal" family was hit with a $3 million tax bill in 2017, with Prince Leonard ordered to pay $2.7 million and his son Arthur to pay more than $240,000.WA Supreme Court Justice Rene Le Miere dismissed their arguments as bizarre, irrelevant and gobbledygook.Prince Leonard's son, Graeme Casley, assumed the sovereign reigns of the Hutt River Principality after his father abdicated due to health concerns.At the time of his ascendance, Mr Casley's most ambitious plan was to establish a permanent community of citizens within the limits of the 'nation'. Casley told CNN Travel he was devastated to dissolve the micronation.“It’s very sad to see your dad building something for 50 years and then you have to shut it down,” Casley said. The Principality of Hutt River, a tiny slab of Australian outback that declared independence 50 years ago, will finally rejoin the the rest of the nation after coronavirus killed its tourist income.