Eureka Jack Mystery
[1] In a report published the day after the armed uprising in Ballarat, 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.
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.
In his Eureka: The Unfinished Revolution, Peter FitzSimons has stated: In my opinion, this report of the Union Jack being on the same flagpole as the flag of the Southern Cross is not credible.
[3] However, Hugh King, who was a private in the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot, swore in a signed contemporaneous affidavit that he recalled: ... three or four hundred yards a heavy fire from the stockade was opened on the troops and me.
In doing so went into more detail than in his written affidavit, as the report states that the flag like a Union Jack was found: ... rollen up in the breast of a[n] [unidentified] prisoner.
Once taken by Constable John King, the Eureka Flag was placed beneath his tunic in the same fashion as the suspected Union Jack was found on the prisoner.
[10] Peter Lalor made a blunder by choosing "Vinegar Hill" – the site of a battle during the Irish uprising of 1798 – as the rebel password.
From the latter place alone a thousand men were on the march to Ballarat; but when the news circulated that Irish independence had crept into the movement, almost all turned back.
[12][note 2] John Lynch, who was also at the Eureka Stockade as one of Lalor's captains, recalled the dire circumstances facing the ill-fated rebel garrison in the hours leading up to the battle saying: On the afternoon of Saturday, we had a force of seven hundred men on whom we thought we could rely.
We have recently purchased Sidney Nolan's 1949 portrait on glass of John Joseph, the black American who was one of 13 diggers arraigned on treason charges after the storming of the stockade.
Withers includes the relevant extract from the Argus account that mentions two battle flags having been seized, yet he otherwise makes no further reference to the Eureka Jack.
[20] In 2013, the Australian Flag Society announced a worldwide quest and a $10,000 reward for more information and materials relating to the Eureka Jack Mystery.
