The Eureka Flag is a design; a dark blue field with a central white symmetric cross consisting five eight-pointed stars, representing the Crux constellation.
The design was first used for the war flag of the Eureka Rebellion of 1854 at Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. Rebels swore an oath to the flag as a symbol of defiance at its first flying at Bakery Hill and 22 were killed at the Eureka Stockade defending the original flag (now held at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery).
The flag design has gained wider notability due to its adoption in Australian culture as a symbol of democracy, protest[1][2] and a wide variety of other causes. It is listed as an object of state heritage significance on the Victorian Heritage Register[3] and was named as a Victorian Icon by the National Trust in 2006.[4]
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It was designed by Canadian miner "Captain" Henry Ross, a member of the Ballarat Reform League, with the central feature being the Southern Cross. According to some historians, Ross was inspired by the design of the Australian Federation Flag[5] and incorporated the eight star cross which was a symbol of the Reform League.
According to Frank Cayley's book, Flag of Stars, the flag's five stars represent the Southern Cross, and the white cross joining the stars represents unity in defiance. Professor Geoffrey Blainey has advanced the view, though, that the white cross behind the stars "really [is] an Irish cross rather than being [a] configuration of the Southern Cross".[6] The design of the flag was taken by Captain Henry Ross, one of Eureka's miners and a Canadian expatriate, to three women, Anastasia Withers, Anne Duke and Anastasia Hayes, to sew up in time for a large rally at Bakery Hill, at 2.00 pm on 29 November 1854. There is no evidence on who exactly designed the flag, although Ross was known on the diggings as the 'bridegroom' of the miners flag. The flag looks similar to the Federation Flag, on which it was based according to some historians.
"The flag is silk, blue ground with large silver cross; no device or arms, but all exceedingly chaste and natural."[7]
It flew for the first time 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, at "about eleven o'clock the 'Southern Cross' was hoisted, and its maiden appearance was a fascinating object to behold."
The flag was flown at the centre of the stockade fortification at the battle of the Eureka Stockade on 3 December 1854. During the battle Henry Ross was mortally wounded near the flagpole. Following the battle, the flag was torn down, trampled, hacked with swords and peppered with bullets by colonial troops.
According to the Argus newspaper of 4 December 1854, the Union Jack was hoisted beneath the Eureka flag.[8][9] [10]
Trooper John King retained the flag and it was held by his family for forty years, until it was loaned to the Ballarat 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.[11] Approximately 31% of the original specimen is missing.
The flag was "re-discovered" by Len Fox during the 1930s,[12] however it took decades to convince authorities to properly authenticate the flag. it was found after World War II in a drawer, discovered by members of the Australian Communist Party.[11] 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 in Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, along with Doudiet's sketches.
In 2001, legal ownership of the flag was transferred to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery who expect 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.[13]
Since the original miners revolt at Eureka, the flag, born out of adversity, continues to be regarded by some as a symbol of nationalism, closely associated with this struggle for democracy.
In the event the design of the Australian National Flag is ever reviewed some republicans support the Eureka Flag being one of the options in a plebiscite.
Whilst some Australians view the Eureka Flag as a symbol of nationality[14] (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, such as noted nationalistic group National Action, communists and neo-Nazis,[15] who see it as representative of the efforts of the miners to free themselves from what they view, depending on their political persuasion, as either 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 and thus the flag has developed a somewhat unsavoury reputation with mainstream Australia.
The Eureka flag was lost to general public imagination until after World War 2 when, for mainly political reasons it was re-discovered and promoted as a ‘rebel’ symbol; in the 1949 movie Eureka Stockade starring Chips Rafferty, the flag featured was, in technical terms, the fly half of the Australian National Flag.[16]
A similar flag was flown prominently above the Barcaldine strike camp of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, and thus has had a strong association with the Australian labour movement from this time. 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 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." [17]
The men and women of HMAS Ballarat, the second Royal Australian Navy ship to bear the name, wear Eureka Flag insignia on their uniforms.[18]
The dimensions of the Eureka flag are 260 × 400 cm (100 × 160 in) (2:3.08 ratio). The horizontal cross is 37 cm wide and the vertical cross 36 cm wide. The central star is slightly larger than the others and is 65 cm tall (point to point) and the other stars 60 cm tall.
The modern design of the Eureka flag is an enhanced and different version from the 1854 original with blue key lines around each of five equal stars. It is frequently made in the proportions of 20:13. Although the flag is designed as a representation of the Southern Cross, a constellation located in southern skies and thus only visible to viewers in the southern hemisphere, the stars are arranged differently to the arrangement of stars in the constellation itself. The "middle" star (Epsilon Crucis) in the constellation is off-centre, and near to the edge of the "diamond", while the Eureka flag shows it in the centre. The Eureka flag is only a stylised version of the more widely known pattern.
The Eureka Flag is used by a variety of groups. The City of Ballarat and University of Ballarat, for instance have used stylised versions of the 'Southern Cross' in their official logo along with several trade unions and other associated groups.
Sporting clubs have also used the flag as a symbol including the Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Rebels. Melbourne Victory supporters adopted it as a club flag for its foundation year in 2004, however it was subsequently briefly banned[19] at A-League games by the Football Federation of Australia, but rescinded in the face of criticism from the Victorian general public. The Football Federation of Australia claimed that the ban was 'unintentional'.
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