Stories of separation are laced with anguish, loss, determination and resilience. Through forced circumstances, or by choice, separation divides people from people, and people from land, into disconnected worlds. You can measure it in feelings. Abrupt and forced separation can tear you to pieces. With choice, it sets you adrift to go a different way. Even to rule victorious.
I wish that relations between us could be more cordial after all Hutt River Province is the second largest country in this continent. Australia could be a more neighbourly neighbour.
Prince Leonard, 1976
On 21 April 1970 Leonard George Casley served formal notice on the Premier and the Governor of Western Australia, the Acting Prime Minister, Sir John McEwen, and the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, that his land was to be the Hutt River Province and that he was to be its administrator. In a further application of bush law he changed the province to a principality and declared himself Prince Leonard and his wife Princess Shirley. He had successfully seceded from Australia.
Casley was reacting to what he regarded as an unfair wheat quota set by the Western Australian government. He turned his 18,500-acre property near Geraldton into a tourist mecca, printing his own stamps, passports and currency, and adopting all the trappings of a real principality.
In the Eternity gallery you can see a set of stamps featuring Hutt River Province and record your own story of separation.
Winnie O'Sullivan separated from her beloved
Winnie O'Sullivan. Photo: unknown. Courtesy: National Museum of Australia.
1896-1974
Winifred (Winnie) O'Sullivan was the sweetheart of Australian boxing legend Les Darcy. After rising to stardom as a champion boxer during the First World War period, Les Darcy became a political scapegoat of the first conscription referendum in 1916. A young, fit and healthy example of Australian masculinity, Darcy symbolised all males whom the greater public had deemed eligible for service and were shirking their duty of serving their country on the battlefield. Darcy subsequently left Australia to establish a boxing career in America, but died from septicaemia caused by a tooth infection in May 1917 at the age of 21.
The object on display is the mourning locket worn by Winnie OSullivan after Les' death. It contains a photo of Les and a lock of his hair.
Tim was diagnosed with autism when he was three years old; a condition which means that he has difficulty communicating with others and expressing his feelings and opinions. When he was a child Judy, his mum, would use stick-figure drawings to explain everyday situations to him. Tim took to drawing and now uses it to express his quirky sense of humour. Through selling his drawings he has the chance to lead a fulfilling life, overcoming his feelings of separation from the outside world, and in the process bringing joy and laughter to others.
The drawing on display was exhibited at the Very Special Arts Festival in Washington, D.C. in 2004.
Jessie Vasey and the separation of war widows
1897-1966
Jessie Vasey suffered the loss of her husband in World War Two. In learning to cope with her own grief and pain, she formed the War Widows Guild, to help other war widows who were struggling financially and often emotionally too. The weaving loom belonged to the War Widows Guild. It was Jessie's idea to train war widows in craft work, especially weaving, so they could earn money from home. Many war widows only received a small pension and Jessie's initiatives emphasised self-help rather than reliance on hand-outs. Craftwork was financially rewarding and a way for grieving widows to keep going - one row at a time.
Gertrud Bodenwieser is separated from Vienna and her family
Gertrud Bodenwieser was a famous European modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. Along with many of her dancers she was forced to flee Vienna in the face of anti-Jewish hostility with the Nazi invasion of 1938. With her former life in tatters and family members killed, Bodenwieser gathered together members of her former troupe and formed a new company in Sydney. She toured outback Australia to places which had never seen a ballet, let alone a modern ballet, and was well received.
The dance costume on display was worn in performances of Demon Machine.
Stories no longer on display
Bob Balmain
Flying doctor separation through isolation (contemporary)
Captain Moonlite
Separation from gang member Nesbitt who died in a shootout (1870s-80s)
Isabella Lynott
Member of the stolen generation who devoted her life to supporting and caring for children (1940s)
Jane Walker
Convict in Ross female factory, Tasmania, separated from her family and her country (1840s-50s)
Joyce Doru
The Red Cross helped this Sudanese refugee to find her family after ten years of separation (1990s)
Peter Porter
Expatriate poet, talks about separation from Australia and his identity as an Australian (1930s-today)
Rose Sarah Rasey
Japanese prisoner of war nurse during the Second World War (1930s-45)
