Daniel Jackson, an Australian, is 20 years old and also the president of the Free Republic of Verdis (derived from the Latin word for “green”), situated on the Danube between Croatia and Serbia. He has quite the tale to tell.

Fitz: Mr President, it’s an honour and a pleasure. You were born and raised in Australia, so what path took you to where you are now?

Daniel Jackson, 20, is the self-appointed president of Verdis.

DJ: I grew up in Upwey, Victoria, near Ferntree Gully, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and went to Waverley Christian College. When I was 14 years old, I noticed that on the official website maps of both Serbia and Croatia, there was a tiny sliver of land about as big as Vatican City – roughly 50 hectares – right by the Danube, that had not been claimed by either country after the break-up of Yugoslavia.

Fitz: But how could that be? How could two neighbouring countries, already having border disputes, overlook 50 hectares in the bottom drawer?

DJ: It’s complicated. But it is because the river line was changed deliberately by the Austro-Hungarian Empire about 150 years ago. And Croatia considers its borders to be defined by where the Danube used to run, whereas Serbia considers its borders to be the current centre line of the Danube. So Verdis is the bit left over, between the old Danube river line and the new river line. For Croatians to be consistent in claiming their border as the old river line – which gives them more land in claims higher up on the Danube – they had to leave this bit behind.

Fitz: Land, Cap’n! I see land off our starboard bow!

Map of Verdis.

DJ: So the idea of claiming it, and starting our own country with our own constitution and system of government started to take hold. My mates and I gave it a name, Verdis. We designed a flag. The bottom blue bit represents the Danube River. The white in the middle represents peace, modernisation and unity, because those are our key values. The top piece represents clear skies, so that, too, is blue. For currency, we stayed with the euro, and established our three official languages as English, Croatian and Serbian. The next step,........

© The Sydney Morning Herald