Eureka Flag
Ballarat was the scene of Australia's most famous civil insurrection. In the early morning of 3 December 1854, miners clashed with police and Government soldiers. In all, 28 men were killed and a large number wounded.

The word "Eureka" is the Greek word for "I have found it!" and was uttered by Archimedes (287-212 BC) when he discovered the method for determining the purity of gold in Kinh Hiero's golden crown. From 1630 the term started to be generally used to express triumph on any discovery - not necessarily gold.

The word is still used widely in Ballarat - for naming streets, buildings and businesses. It is also the name of a derelict gold ghost town in, and the motto of, California.


"THE ATTACK ON THE STOCKADE AND THE EVENTS LEADING TO IT"

A 55 page article by local historian Peter Butters never before published. For easier access, it has been divided into 12 parts:

  1. The Prelude and the Goldfields Administration
  2. The Scobie Affair
  3. The Flames That Ignited Eureka
  4. Mass Meetings, Chartism, and the Reform League
  5. The Wounding of the Drummer Boy and the last Licence Hunt
  6. Rampant Diggers and the Stockade
  7. 3 December 1854 - The Day of Reckoning
  8. Insurgent Reports
  9. The Aftermath
  10. Martial Law
  11. The Trials
  12. The Southern Cross Flag


Additional articles dealing with Eureka:

"Eureka - Story in Brief"

"The Conservation of the Eureka Flag"

"A Ballad of Eureka" (poem) by Victor Daly (1858-1905)


EUREKA WALKING TRAIL

A one hour, 3.5 km walk that starts from the Post Office, and traces the 1854 march taken from the Government Camp to the Eureka Stockade site by police and soldiers.


ANNUAL EUREKA DAWN WALK

This annual walk leaves early in December from the historic Mining Exchange in Lydiard Street, making its way to the Eureka Stockade memorial for a public address. The walk is part of an ongoing campaign to have Eureka Sunday declared as a national day of remembrance.


THE PIKEMAN'S DOG

A life size bronze sculpture of an Irish terrier was unveiled outside the Eureka Stockade Centre after the 5th December 1999 Eureka Dawn Walk. The sculpture pays tribute to a loyal canine who stayed guarding his owner, an Irish miner, long after he was killed in the bloody Eureka uprising. The RSPCA has awarded the dog a purple cross posthumously.