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The Eureka Jack Mystery relates to the creation and flying of a rebel Australian flag known as the Eureka Jack. Its origin is not specifically known.
Since 2009, various theories have emerged, based on the Argus account of the Battle of the Eureka Stockade and an affidavit sworn by Private Hugh King three days later as to a flag being seized from a prisoner detained at the stockade, concerning whether a Union Jack, known as the Eureka Jack was also flown by the rebel garrison.[1] Readers of the Argus were told that:
The flag of the diggers, "The Southern Cross," as well as the "Union Jack," which they had to hoist underneath, were captured by the foot police.[2]
The Eureka Jack has been commemorated and investigated since the 19th century. The oath swearing ceremony in the 1949 motion picture Eureka Stockade features the star-spangled Eureka Flag with the Union Jack beneath. Ray Wenban depicted the Eureka Jack in a 1958 pictorial history series for students. In honour of the 160th anniversary of the battle in 2014, the Australian Flag Society released "Fall Back with the Eureka Jack", which illustrates Gregory Blake's two-flag theory in folk art.
- ^ Blake 2009, p. 183, note 78.
- ^ "By Express. Fatal Collision at Ballaarat". The Argus. Melbourne. 4 December 1854. p. 5. Retrieved 19 July 2023 – via Trove.