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It flew for the first (recorded) occasion on Bakery Hill as a symbol of the resistance of the gold miners during the Eureka Stockade rebellion in the year 1854. Beneath this flag, Peter Lalor, leader of the Ballarat Reform League, swore this oath to the affirmation of his fellow demonstrators: "we swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties."

According to the Ballarat Times, which first mentioned the flag a week earlier on 24 November 1854, at "about eleven o'clock the 'Southern Cross' was hoisted, and its maiden appearance was a fascinating object to behold."

The present day location of this event is likely to be 29 St. Paul's Way, Bakery Hill.[11] Although it is presently a carpark and for a hundred years was the location of a school, it will soon be the location of an apartment block.[12]

Post-battle preservation Edit Trooper John King retained the flag and it was held by his family for forty years until it was lent to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery in 1895, where it remained in continued obscurity "under a cloud of skepticism and conservative disapproval"; bits of the flag were cut off and given to visiting dignitaries.[13] Approximately 31% of the original specimen is missing.

The flag was "re-discovered" by Len Fox during the 1940s,[14] but it took decades to convince authorities to properly authenticate the flag.[citation needed] it was found after World War II in a drawer at the gallery, discovered by members of the Australian Communist Party.[13] The final irrefutable validation of its authentication occurred when sketchbooks of Canadian Charles Doudiet were put up for sale at a Christies auction in 1996. Two sketches in particular show the flag design as contained in the tattered remains of the flag at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. The remnant of the original Eureka Flag remains today, preserved for public display at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka. In 2001, legal ownership of the flag was transferred to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, which expects the King family and the gallery to be acknowledged every time a replica of the original flag is displayed. It is listed as an object of state heritage significance on the Victorian Heritage Register and was named as an icon by the National Trust in 2006.[15]

Contemporary meaning, notability and controversy Edit

Since the original miners revolt at Eureka, the flag, born out of adversity, continues to be regarded by some as a symbol of rebellion closely associated with the struggle for democracy and unity.

In the event that the design of the Flag of Australia is ever reviewed, some republicans support the Eureka Flag being one of the options in a plebiscite.[citation needed]

Whilst some Australians view the Eureka Flag as a symbol of nationality[16] (see Australian flag debate), it is more often employed by historical societies and re-enactors and by political radicals as a general purpose symbol of protest for a wide variety of anti-establishment non-conformist causes. The flag has been used as a symbol of rebellion by groups on both sides of the political spectrum, from left-wing trade unions such as the CFMEU and ETU to white nationalist group National Action and other neo-Nazis, who began to use it in the 1980s.[17] Depending on their political persuasion, they see it as representative of the efforts of the miners to free themselves from political or economic oppression, and by white supremacists at flashpoints for racial confrontation. Along these lines, some also believe that the flag used during the Lambing Flat riots was a derivative of the Eureka Flag.

During a 1983 royal tour, a republican supporter informally presented a small Eureka Flag to Diana, Princess of Wales, who did not recognise it. The event prompted a cartoon of the royal couple with Charles, Prince of Wales, observing "Mummy will not be pleased."[18]

Eureka Jack mystery Edit

Extract of Argus report 4 December 1854 In 2013 a theory was put forward, based on the Argus account of the battle dated 4 December 1854, and an affidavit sworn by private Hugh King three days later as to a flag being seized from a prisoner captured at the stockade, that a Union Jack, known as the Eureka Jack may also have been flown by the rebels. Enquiries made by the Art Gallery of Ballarat, custodians of the Eureka Flag, have so far been unable to solve this mystery. In his 2012 book Eureka: The Unfinished Revolution, Peter FitzSimons states:

"In my opinion, this report of the Union Jack being on the same flagpole as the flag of the Southern Cross is not credible. There is no independent corroborating report in any other newspaper, letter, diary or book, and one would have expected Raffaello Carboni, for one, to have mentioned it had that been the case. The paintings of the flag ceremony and battle by Charles Doudiet, who was in Ballarat at the time, depicts no Union Jack. During the trial for high treason, the flying of the Southern Cross was an enormous issue, yet no mention was ever made of the Union Jack flying beneath."

Extract of affidavit by Hugh King 9 December 1854 Private Hugh King who was with the 40th regiment swore in a signed contemporaneous affidavit that he recalled:

"...three or four hundred yards a heavy fire from the stockade was opened on the troops and me. When the fire was opened on us we received orders to fire. I saw some of the 40th wounded lying on the ground but I cannot say that it was before the fire on both sides. I think some of the men in the stockade should - they had a flag flying in the stockade; it was a white cross of five stars on a blue ground. - flag was afterwards taken from one of the prisoners like a union jack – we fired and advanced on the stockade, when we jumped over, we were ordered to take all we could prisoners..." [19]

Following the committal hearings for the Eureka rebels there would be another Argus report dated 9 December 1854 stating that two flags had been seized in the following terms:

“The great topic of interest to-day has been the proceedings in reference to the state prisoners now confined in the Camp. As the evidence of the witnesses in these cases is more reliable information than that afforded by most reports, I shall endeavor to give you an abstract of it.” Hugh King had been called upon to give further testimony live under oath in the matter of Timothy Hayes and in doing so went into more detail than in his affidavit, as it was reported the Union Jack like flag was found:

"...rollen up in the breast of a[n] [unidentified] prisoner. He [King] advanced with the rest, firing as they advanced ... several shots were fired on them after they entered [the stockade]. He observed the prisoner [Hayes] brought down from a tent in custody."

Military historian and author of Eureka Stockade: A Ferocious and Bloody Battle, Gregory Blake, has conceded the rebels may have flown two battle flags as they were claiming to be defending their British rights. There is a possibility that the flag being carried by the prisoner had been souvenired from the flag pole as the garrison was fleeing the stockade. Once taken by Constable John King the Eureka flag was placed beneath his tunic in the same fashion as the suspected Union Jack was found on the prisoner. [20]

In 2013 the Australian Flag Society announced a worldwide quest and $10,000 reward for more information and materials in relation to the Eureka Jack mystery.[21]

Usage Edit

Post Eureka Edit

A modern variation was central to the landmark architecture of the Eureka Centre prior to its redevelopment as the Museum of Australian Democracy.

ALP policy launch before a huge crowd in the Sydney Domain on 24 November 1975. Eureka Flags can be seen in the crowd and on tribune A similar flag was flown prominently above the Barcaldine strike camp of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike,[citation needed] and thus has had a strong association with the Australian labour movement from this time.[citation needed] Construction unions such as the Builders Labourers' Federation in particular adopted the Eureka Flag, and it is one of the flags that flies permanently over the Melbourne Trades Hall.

The Eureka Flag was also used by supporters of Gough Whitlam after he was dismissed as prime minister.

NSW Parliament Building, Macquarie Street, Sydney, 3 December 2004 The sesquicentenary of the Eureka Stockade occurred in December 2004, and the Eureka Flag was used extensively during the events that were organised to promote awareness of the occasion. It was flown within each state parliament building in Australia, the federal senate, and most prominently atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson made the Eureka Flag a federal election campaign issue in 2004 saying "I think people have tried to make too much of the Eureka Stockade... trying to give it a credibility and standing that it probably doesn't enjoy."[22]

The men and women of HMAS Ballarat, the second Royal Australian Navy ship to bear the name, wear Eureka Flag insignia on their uniforms.[23]

Specifications Edit The dimensions of the Eureka Flag are 260 cm × 400 cm (100 in × 160 in) (2:3.08 ratio). The horizontal cross is 37 cm (15 in) wide and the vertical cross 36 cm (14 in) wide. The central star is slightly larger than the others and is 65 cm (26 in) tall (point to point) and the other stars 60 cm (24 in) tall.