The Eureka Stockade of 1854 is considered by some historians to be the birthplace of Australian democracy.

Gathered beneath the Southern Cross (Eureka) flag at Ballarat in Victoria, gold miners erected a stockade and demanded the abolition of miner licences and police ‘licence hunts’.

They resolved, ‘it is the inalienable right of every citizen to have a voice in making the laws that he is called upon to obey – that taxation without a representation is tyranny’ and took the oath: We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.

Police troopers overran the stockade and 22 diggers and five troopers were killed.

The leaders of the rebellion were put on trial, but juries refused to convict them. A Commission of Enquiry was conducted with the result that monthly gold licences were replaced with an affordable, annual miner’s licence and the Legislative Council was expanded to allow representation for the major goldfields.

The Southern Cross flag has since been used as a symbol of protest and democracy by various Australian organisations, particularly trade unions.