Image: Jessee Lee Johns, building of The Ronald Courtney Institute, 2025. Photography by Nic Duncan.

In the Great Southern region on Menang Noongar Country, there is a place called Karribank, a picturesque ‘country-style retreat’ that overlooks the stunning Porongurup Ranges. Tucked away on the edge of the property is a small and curious structure made of salvaged materials – mostly wood, pieces of corrugated tin and plastic, broken glass and locally sourced ‘bush poles’ – built around a burnt tree stump.

This is The Ronald Courtney Institute, the latest work, or ‘diplomatic mission’, staged by artist Jessee Lee Johns under the framework of his micro-nation The Commonwealth of New Bayswater.

In the lead-up to the grand opening of the Institute, ART ON THE MOVE visited Jessee to find out a bit more about the project and his time in this place.

Curious about this Ronald Courtney figure, we asked Jessee about the naming of the Institute, to which he explained, “It’s modelled on the Confucius Institute that China was operating in the 2000s. They used the Confucius as this internationally recognisable Chinese figure that everyone could get behind as being someone who an Institute should be named after.”

“But there’s no equivalent figure in New Bayswater, and I couldn’t name it after myself, or I didn’t want to and don’t consider myself as that sort of figure within New Bayswater. Ron Courtney is this name that’s been floating around and is the closest thing we have… even though I don’t know anything about him, other than he’s the founder of the Swan River Trust.”

“It’s like the name New Bayswater itself, I kind of just pluck things that sound vaguely right, like ‘just use that’. It’s the same as building, ‘I like that, I’ll chuck that in here.’ I think that might be some kind of national credo, ‘don’t overthink it’.”

The Ronald Courtney Institute is a place for cultural promotion, exchange and friendship, a diplomatic initiative to educate people about New Bayswater. “That kind of just involves making a bunch of stuff up as you go because there’s not that much to know about New Bayswater” Jessee laughed.

Images: The evolution of The Ronald Courtney Institute. Photography by Nic Duncan.

As New Bayswater’s first initiative in the Great Southern, Jessee has been ‘fostering ties’ between New Bayswater and the Porongurup community by connecting with local artists and golf enthusiasts.

“Over the road they run an ‘art night’ each week, where people are painting or sewing or drawing or just sitting around talking” he shared. “And there’s a bunch of people that play golf, so I’ve been playing golf every Thursday, which has been great and a good way to meet a bunch of people.”

He’s spent the last two months living on site to construct the Institute, finding joy in the process he described as “a puzzle made of junk.”

“Making stuff from offcuts is always fun, and because I’ve been finding material as I’m building, and then finding ways for things to fit together, it can be quite pleasing. I think because the timeframe with these projects is often a lot tighter, there’s less of those little moments. There’s always an element of finding a thing and thinking ‘that’ll go nicely here’… but a lot of the time I’m going quite quick and thinking ‘you’ve just got to get it done’.”

“It’s so funny when you’re on the hunt for materials and then it just turns up. It just always becomes available, like with the bird bath on the roof… I go to the tip and find a satellite dish and I’m like ‘the bird bath’s done’.”

Images: Some of the finer details of The Ronald Courtney Institute, including the official bird bath. Photography by Nic Duncan.

Still, Jessee is quick to acknowledge the myth of self-sufficiency. “You can’t make everything, even though that’s the goal, it’s just not possible. I’m still at Bunnings all the time. There’s no getting away from it but you can think about it and that’s all you can probably do” he said.

Recently sold to new owners, Karribank itself is similarly in a phase of development. “There’s this parallel construction and renovation happening on site… it’s always funny to be alongside that kind of thing. I always feel a bit uneasy, because we are engaged in a very similar task, but I’m just going through their scrap bin, building out of that” Jessee laughed. “I’m going slowly, and all the timbers’ wobbly, so nothing’s super precise… they’re out there with laser levels and engineered decking, and I’ve just got all the rotten boards that they’re getting rid of.”

It’s been a process of discovering the building, rather than designing or building the building. “I’m just kind of here, responding to little bits and pieces. What I love about buildings is seeing decisions that people have made, or solutions they add to things, and that’s the thing I enjoy about it, and so it’s nice to make something that leans heavily into that.”

Careful not to veer into ideas of grandiosity, Jessee describes himself as the ‘Assistant to the Secretary to the Ambassador of the Commonwealth of New Bayswater.’

“You know, I could be the King, but I always recoil back to the caretaker or the postal worker. I never want to be the postmaster general, I’d rather be the postal worker. However, I do take the opportunity sometimes to use New Bayswater to pump myself up from time to time, like New Bayswater’s finest artist or something like that” he laughed.

With the Institute now open to the public, Jessee’s lined up a program of music, cultural tours, dining experiences, and even a pallet deconstruction competition. “I’m trying to drum up some participation in that. I’m not allowed to enter, I’m way too good at it” he laughed. “To make the table yesterday I had to knock a few pallets apart and I was thinking how I’ve got all this weird knowledge of how they’re put together. It’s such a weird thing to be good at. I think the judging categories will be speed, quality of material, style and the number of nails left in the dirt. I’m judging it, that’s one thing I’m qualified for.”

Images: The Grand Opening of The Ronald Courtney Institute with local Elder Mark Colbung and musical performance from Echo Omen and Mei Saraswati. Photography by Nic Duncan.

Refining New Bayswater cuisine is something Jessee is also working on. “That’s been developing for a while, just from living in a bunch of different places that have really limited cooking facilities, and so I’ve developed this extraordinarily simple way of eating and people do seem to enjoy it. Having a fire to cook on and just doing simple stuff, that’s pretty fun. Hopefully I’ll be able to do more of that over the next few weeks.”

Up until recently, Jessee had to wander down to the payphone on Porongurup Road to communicate with the rest of the world, but the Institute now has its own telephone number, which people can contact for information on events and opening times.

“I’ve just got to practice how to answer the phone because it’s really complicated” he said. “It’s like, ‘Ronald Courtney Institute, Assistant to the Secretary to the Ambassador of the Commonwealth of New Bayswater, Jessee Lee Johns speaking’. I think I need to write it down and stick it on the wall by the reception desk.”

“It’s a reception desk slash bed, which I’ve discovered is too low for a desk and too high for a bed. The perfect compromise. I swung my legs out this morning and thought ‘yeah the ground’s a little bit too far away’. It’s a matter of fifty millimetres or something, that’s another aspect of New Bayswater, these compromises. Like the compromises you make so you can spend all your time making art… I just have less money and no stability and that’s fine, that’s not a bad compromise.”

The Ronald Courtney Institute is open to the public, Friday to Sunday, 10am — 5pm until May 11. Visitors are welcome to come chat, have a look around and maybe a cup of tea. Head to the exhibition page to find out more about upcoming events. Alternatively, you may attempt to contact The Assistant to the Secretary to the Ambassador of the Commonwealth of New Bayswater, Jessee Lee Johns, at 0474 371 248 during standard business hours* of Fri — Sun, 10am — 5pm.

*Please note New Bayswater standard hours are not very standard or consistent.