Since 2012, 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. Readers of the Argus were told that:
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.
In his Eureka: The Unfinished Revolution, Peter FitzSimons has stated:
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:
During the committal hearings for the Eureka rebels, there would be another Argus report dated 9 December 1854 concerning the seizure of a second flag at the stockade in the following terms:Hugh King was called upon to give further testimony live under oath in the matter of Timothy Hayes. 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:
See also: Chartism and the Eureka Rebellion.
Military historian and author of Eureka Stockade: A Ferocious and Bloody Battle Gregory Blake, conceded that the rebels may have flown two battle flags as they claimed to be defending their British rights. Blake leaves open the possibility that the flag being carried by the prisoner had been souvenired from the flag pole as the routed garrison was fleeing the stockade. 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. In 1896, Sergeant John McNeil, who was at the battle, recalled shredding a flag at the Spencer Street Barracks in Melbourne at the time. He claimed it was the Eureka Flag that he had torn down; however, Blake believes it may have been the mystery Eureka Jack.
See also: Loyalism and the Eureka Rebellion, Republicanism and the Eureka Rebellion and Nationalities at the Eureka Stockade. Another theory is that the Eureka Jack was an 11th-hour response to divided loyalties in the rebel camp.[1] Peter Lalor made a blunder by choosing "Vinegar Hill" – the site of a battle during the Irish uprising of 1798 – as the rebel password. This led to waning support for the Eureka Rebellion as news that the issue of Irish independence had become involved began to circulate.[2]
The memoirs of Eureka rebel William Craig, who accompanied Lalor on the voyage to Australia, mention that:
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:
Local historian W.B. Withers, in his seminal 1870 history of Ballarat states:
According to Gordon Morrison, director of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, in a letter to the editor published in the Ballarat Courier on the subject of the search for the Eureka Jack:
The oath swearing ceremony in the 1949 motion picture Eureka Stockade features the star-spangled Eureka Flag with the Union Jack beneath.[3] In The Revolt at Eureka, part of a 1958 illustrated history series for students, the artist Ray Wenban would remain faithful to the first reports of the battle with his rendition featuring two flags flying above the Eureka Stockade.
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.[4] The AFS also released a commemorative artwork Fall Back with the Eureka Jack for the 160th anniversary of the battle in 2014.