Diggers Oath

On 29 November 1854 a ‘Monster Meeting’ was held on Bakery Hill against the gold licence which was seen as an unjust tax. A flag, representing the Southern Cross, with white stars on a dark blue background, was said to be flown on an eighty foot pole. The diggers took the ‘Oath of the Southern Cross’. They knelt, and with heads uncovered pointed to the banner and said,

We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and defend our rights and liberties.