What is the Eureka flag?

The Eureka flag is a blue rectangular flag bearing a white Southern Cross, made up of a central five-pointed star joined to four other stars by a thin white cross. It was first flown by gold miners at Bakery Hill in Ballarat, Victoria, on 29 November 1854, four days before the Eureka Stockade rebellion of 3 December 1854.

The design is attributed to a Canadian-born miner named Henry Ross, although several others including the Italian miner Raffaello Carboni and members of the Ballarat Reform League were involved. The flag was sewn by three local women: Anastasia Withers, Anne Duke, and Anastasia Hayes. Carboni later wrote that the assembled miners swore an oath beneath the flag to 'truly stand by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties'. The flag was about 4 by 2.6 metres, and the original is now held by the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

The flag was largely forgotten between the 1850s and the early 1900s but has been progressively rediscovered as a symbol of democratic protest, workers' rights, and republican sentiment in Australia. It has been adopted by the trade union movement, particularly the Builders Labourers Federation and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, and is regularly flown at protest rallies and industrial picket lines. Some pubs, surf clubs, and community groups also fly it as a marker of Australian egalitarian values.

The flag has at times been controversial because of its use by some far-right groups in the early 2000s, but it remains primarily a symbol of working-class protest, gold-rush history, and resistance to unjust authority. The federal Parliament passed legislation in 2014 to formally recognise the flag's heritage status, and the Eureka Centre at Ballarat displays the original alongside interactive exhibits about the rebellion.