Rainbow Creek Banknotes.

How many of you have ever seen or had the Rainbow Creek banknotes,which were issued in 1980 by Governor Thomas Barnes of the Independent State of Rainbow Creek? There were 3 denominations - 50c.,
$1,& $2.

The Independent State of Rainbow Creek was declared by Thomas Barnes,
who was a farmer in the Cowwarr area of Victoria.Like Prince Leonard of the H.R.P.P.,he had a grievance towards his state government as well as the Aussie Commonwealth Government.He declared independence by
issuing a Notice of Secession,which he copied & served on the Governor
of Victoria,the Governor-General of Australia,the International Court of Justice in The Hague,&,of course,Her Majesty,the Queen.An issue of stamps was released to commemorate the declaration of Independence.

Like Prince Leonard,Governor Barnes regarded himself as being independent under British suzerainty.He was also a visionary standing up for the little guy.I admire these type of people.

Bill Hornadge's book,'Local Stamps of Australia' depicts the stamps of both numismatically interesting states.The odd one out of the secessionist states was the Province of Bumbunga in South Australia.It
never had a numismatic history,but like Rainbow Creek,its head of state was a Governor.He was Alex Brackstone,who established his state as a expression of protest against the Aussie republican movement.
Bumbunga's stamps always,quite naturally,depicted members of the Royal Family.

Aidan.