Assembling the people is no small thing. It is the peaceful path to freedom.
And our story began in earnest on this day — 12 January — two years ago.
About a month beforehand, a small group of men and women from all across Terra Australis decided it was time to take the first steps. There was no grand plan, no certainty of outcome, and very little understanding of just how large the task before them truly was.
Without fully comprehending the enormity of what they were doing, enabled by what’s known as the last man standing doctrine, public notices were printed and placed wherever they would be accepted and could be afforded. Commercial newspapers across the land carried simple declarations: our Assemblies were in session.
Along the way, we have made mistakes. We often joke that this is the first time any of us has ever built a nation — and there is more truth in that than humour. While we are guided by the phenomenal research of Anna Von Reitz, and learning from the experiences of the American Assemblies, there has been no instruction manual, no map to follow, and no authority above the people themselves to tell us what is “right.” We have learned by doing, by listening, and sometimes by getting it wrong.
One of our early errors was believing we needed to mirror the legacy system’s franchise territories. In doing so, we created seven State Assemblies (including Nova Zealandia). While well-intentioned, this approach separated us and created a great deal of duplication of effort. Energy was spread thin, communication became more complex, and people were often working on the same problems in parallel without knowing it.
After months of discussion, reflection, and consultation, we made a significant course correction. On 1 March 2025, we declared, recorded, and published the shift to a single State - Terra Australis. This was not a step backwards, but a step toward coherence — toward unity of effort while preserving local participation and voice.
From the first declaration on 12 January, first public meetings in February 2024, the Terra Australis tour by Muki and Darren, through the formation of 32 Local Assemblies in our first year and growing to 63 in our second, the initiative has continued to take shape. Camps, meetings, conversations, disagreements, reconciliations, and shared meals have all played their part. We have been provided some wonderful learning opportunities— each challenge and each success adds its own thread to the fabric we are weaving together.
As a grass roots ground up initiative, it can tend to be clunky. As people come to the Assemblies, they bring their own knowledge and ideas into the learning journey, and this is how we adapt and grow. It takes time to shake off the beliefs and expectations of the old corporate structure but we are doing it by calling out controlling ideas and processes and staying focused on the question "what does freedom look like" as we make decisions.
There are some key elements we need to get right to ensure our legitimate standing, but the Assemblies are being built by the people, in their local communities. As intended.
In March and April of 2025, a large influx of volunteers marked another important turning point. As Action Groups and Committees began forming across the nation, it became clear that our organisation and planning needed to step up. In August this year, we took a fresh look at how decisions are made and voices heard, leading to the introduction of the principle of sevens — an idea aimed at balancing participation, clarity, and responsibility.
This structural change is still bedding in as we enter our third year of nation building. It has not been seamless, and it has not been without lessons. But the increased engagement, transparency, and shared ownership are already strengthening trust, deepening commitment, and changing how people show up in what we are building together.
An initiative that began as a big hearted, courageous husband and wife a few short years ago has ignited into a large, living network of family – hundreds of men and women all over the land working to create communities – supported by a robust, internationally recognised governing structure that will soon be giving direction to, and setting limits on, the privately owned governmental services providers that we have allowed to presumptuously rule over us.
What we are building is not perfect. It is unfinished. And it will continue to change as we learn more, research deeper, and listen better — to one another, and to the land itself.
But what has remained constant since that first notice was printed is this:
the Assemblies are in session, the people are assembling and together we are building something beautiful and lasting.
