Eureka Flag

The Eureka Flag is a flag design which features dark blue field 260 cm × 400 cm (2:3.08 ratio); a horizontal stripe 37 cm wide and a vertical line crossing it of 36 cm wide; and 5 eight pointed stars, the central star being 65 cm tall (point to point) and the other stars 60 cm tall, representing the Crux Australis constellation.

The design was first used as the war flag of the Eureka Rebellion (3 December 1854) at Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. A number of people swore allegiance to the flag as a symbol of defiance at its first flying at Bakery Hill on 29 November 1854. Over 30 miners were killed at the Eureka Stockade, along with six troopers and police. Some 125 miners were arrested and many others badly wounded.

The flag has been lent to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka by the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

The flag design has gained wider notability in Australian culture due to its adoption by radicals as a symbol of democracy, and general purpose symbol of protest, mainly in relation to a variety of anti-establishment, non-conformist causes. It is listed as an object of state heritage significance on the Victorian Heritage Register and was designated as a Victorian Icon by the National Trust in 2006.

The flag is reputed to have been designed by a Canadian member of the Ballarat Reform League, Captain Henry Ross. Local legend claims that the flag was sewn by three local women – Anastasia Withers, Anne Duke and Anastasia Hayes.

Ross was said to be inspired by the design of the Australian Federation Flag.

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.

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