Diggers swear allegiance to the Southern Cross Flag on Bakery Hill - 29th November 1854 ‘We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties’
For almost a century in Ballarat, this flag of the Southern Cross, symbol of the Eureka Stockade was kept out of sight in a cupboard at the town’s Fine Art Gallery! This is the flag that flew defiantly over the diggers stockade at Eureka for four days in their stand against the steep licence fees that they were being charged to prospect and the officious way that it was being collected.
Prior to the diggers stand at Eureka Stockade, The Ballarat Reform League was formed at a meeting of 10,000 people at Bakery Hill on 11th November 1854. Its charter was based upon the principle that… it is the unalienable right of every citizen to have a voice in the laws that he is called upon to obey.
The Reform League Charter is held at the Victorian Public Record Office but at the time in 1854, was ignored by the Colonial Government, thus fuelling anger in the Ballarat gold fields, and leading to the diggers revolt at Eureka.
Today the flag is prominently on display at the Fine Art Gallery, having been unveiled in 1973 by Gough Whitlam, perhaps the only Australian Prime Minister who recognized the importance of the diggers stand against injustice and oppression at Eureka. It has come to symbolize the birthplace of a democratic Australia.
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