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A government security agency compiles a profile of Ray Unit (Michael Callaghan). Ray seeks political asylum from Prince Leonard (Leonard Casley), the leader of self-declared independent Australian state Hutt River Province.
Curator’s notes
Against the Grain: More Meat than Wheat uses the voice of a never-seen government security agent to comment upon what it sees as pervasive state control. The agency voice wants to monitor Ray Unit and use methods at its disposal to discredit him in the media.
The second part of this sequence shows Ray seeking asylum in Hutt River Province (now known as the Principality of Hutt River), an area 517 kilometres north of Perth which declared itself an independent sovereign state in 1969 following disputes with the government of Western Australia over wheat quotas. Ray delivers his application to Hutt River founder Leonard George Casley, known as His Royal Highness Prince Leonard. Casley’s non-violent bid for self-determination is one of very few such campaigns launched since Australian federation in 1901.
