1854
The Eureka flag
Under the Southern Cross
The Eureka flag is 2600 mm wide and 3240 mm high and is made from wool and cotton. The flag was designed by Canadian miner ‘Captain’ Henry Ross, a member of the Ballarat Reform League, and sewn by Anastasia Withers, Anne Duke and Anastasia Hayes on 29November 1854. There was a growing solidarity among the miners and Ross saw the advantage in defining the group. A week later it was damaged by swords and bullets during the battle known as the Eureka Stockade. Trooper John King souvenired the flag from the battlefield and took it to his home, where it stayed for years.
In the 1850s, Victoria contributed more than one-third of the world’s gold output. Ballarat was the richest field in the world. More people came to Australia in search of gold than were transported as convicts, with gold fever pushing the population from 70 000 in 1850 to 400 000 in 1856. The revolutions of 1848 in Europe had displaced many who brought ideas of socialism and democracy to Australia.
The polyglot community on the diggings made that area a powder keg. The Victorian government squeezed miners, who were charged 30 shillings per month (twice the average weekly wage) for a licence. Matters came to a head on the Ballarat fields on what was known as the Eureka Lead, an area with a high concentration of Irish prospectors. On 6 October 1854, James Scobie was murdered at the Eureka Hotel. The publican, James Bentley, and his staff denied any responsibility and were not charged, but the locals thought the magistrate was in the sway of Bentley and burned down the pub. The arrests of miners over the hotel fire in the ensuing weeks led to large public meetings and lists of demands being drawn up.
On the fateful day of 11 November 1854, a crowd that may have been as large as 10 000 diggers gathered at Bakery Hill. Clearly there were rebellious Irish, American and European ideas circulating. The Ballarat Reform League, mimicking American revolutionaries, declared that taxation without representation was tyranny. There were calls for a republic. Goldfields commissioner Robert Rede, concerned about radical politics, ramped up the police presence. He wanted any confrontation to be quickly and decisively suppressed.
Tension escalated. Eight miners were arrested on 30 November for licence defaulting, and this provoked a fight. The troopers were attacked. A meeting at Bakery Hill resolved to take armed resistance to the government. Lalor found himself de facto leader of the insurrection and a new flag based on the stars of the Southern Cross, which had been unfurled the day before, was hoisted. Lalor and other demonstrators knelt under the ensign and declared: ‘We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.’
Lalor and the Reform League began to build a stockade – a rickety fence – and started training for battle. At 3 a.m. on Sunday, 3 December, the troopers and police attacked. It was over in less than half an hour. Thirty-three diggers, including Captain Ross, and five soldiers were killed and over 100 prisoners taken. Lalor, wounded, escaped but lost his left arm.
Public sympathy was with the rebels, and the public in Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo and Castlemaine were outraged by the savagery of the police attack. Charges of treason against Lalor and the 13 diggers were dropped or lapsed. The government came to the negotiating table, appointing two representatives – one being Lalor – from the diggings to the parliament.
The Eureka Stockade – Australia’s biggest rebellion to date – was over in less than an hour, but the Eureka flag lives on as a motif for an independent Australia.