March of the penguin: the forces behind the secessionist Victorian Independence Movement

‘It’s nostalgic, it’s Victorian, it’s a bit cheeky’: New York Times bestselling illustrator Douglas Holgate offered his services for free and designed the Victorian Independence Movement logo. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

There’s a little penguin on Twitter pushing a big idea: Victoria should secede from the rest of Australia.

While Western Australia has always harboured the fantasy of breaking away from federation, going as far as holding a successful but invalid referendum in 1933, the idea of a Victorian secession – “Vexit” to its proponents – recently emerged among a group of friends during the state’s second extended Covid lockdown in 2021.