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Starting a new country is no easy feat, but this Saturday a small Australian island will take a vote that may change the course of its future.The residents of Lamb Island, which sits off the coast of Brisbane, will on Saturday take a vote to decide whether or not they will secede from Australia and become an independent constitutional monarchy.“It started out as a sitting on a deck with a friend of mine and just having a general gripe about lack of provision of services and then I thought, ‘why don't we secede?’” says Tony Gilson, the Lamb Island resident who initiated the vote and runs the island’s convenience store.Gilson says the main reasons for taking the vote are slow police response times and a sense that the local council, Redlands City, has not paid enough attention to the island, which has a population of just over 400.“Lamb Island is a fantastic community and the residents here should all be proud of themselves,” he says.If successful, the new monarchs will be King Barton Bulwinkel, 89, and Queen Margaret Bulwinkel, 86, the island’s longest-term residents, who have lived there for 53 years. A new currency will also be created and a subsequent plebiscite will be called to decide on the exact form of the constitution.Gilson wants to stress that while the issues the island has faced are real, the vote is also about having fun and will not jeopardise the island’s residents. The new state’s relationship with Australia will remain amicable and will not affect residents access to pensions and other provisions.If they become a republic they will need to nominate official and secondary languages, and Klingon and Elvish have been flagged as possibilities
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Topic: Lamb Island residents see chance of nationhood arrive (Read 685 times)
