Hugh King (soldier)

Hugh King was a private in the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot who was at the Battle of the Eureka Stockade. He swore in a signed contemporaneous affidavit dated 7 December 1854 that he recalled:

"... three or four hundred yards a heavy fire from the stockade was opened on the troops and me. When the fire was opened on us we received orders to fire. I saw some of the 40th wounded lying on the ground but I cannot say that it was before the fire on both sides. I think some of the men in the stockade should – they had a flag flying in the stockade; it was a white cross of five stars on a blue ground. – flag was afterwards taken from one of the prisoners like a union jack – we fired and advanced on the stockade, when we jumped over, we were ordered to take all we could prisoners ..."[1]

This article is part of a series on the
Eureka Rebellion
Eureka Stockade Riot by John Black Henderson (1854)
Timeline Military leaders Siege
Origins Chartism Revolutions of 1848 Thomas Hiscock Victorian gold rush
Ideologies Chartism and the Eureka Rebellion Loyalism and the Eureka Rebellion Republicanism and the Eureka Rebellion
The Eureka Rebellion Anti-Gold Licence Association Ballarat Reform League Bendigo Petition Charles Doudiet Charles La Trobe Edward Thonen Eureka Flag Eureka Stockade (fortification) Forest Creek Monster Meeting Fredrick Vern Henry Ross Hugh King James Scobie John Basson Humffray John King Nationalities at the Eureka Stockade Peter Lalor Robert William Rede Captain Henry Christopher Wise Sir Charles Hotham Suffolk Regiment William Wright 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot
High Treason trials Archibald Michie Butler Cole Aspinall Henry Seekamp John Joseph John Manning Raffaello Carboni Sir Redmond Barry William à Beckett William Stawell 1855 Victorian High Treason trials
Legacy Australian nationalism Eureka Jack Mystery Eureka Rebellion in popular culture Eureka Stockade Memorial Park Eureka Stockade Monument The Eureka Stockade (1855 novel) William Bramwell Withers
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Extract of the affidavit by Hugh King, 7 December 1854.

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:

"The great topic of interest to-day has been the proceedings in reference to the state prisoners now confined in the Camp. As the evidence of the witnesses in these cases is more reliable information than that afforded by most reports, I shall endeavor to give you an abstract of it."[2]

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:

"... rollen up in the breast of a[n] [unidentified] prisoner. He [King] advanced with the rest, firing as they advanced ... several shots were fired on them after they entered [the stockade]. He observed the prisoner [Hayes] brought down from a tent in custody."[2]

King's testimony is considered significant by Eureka Jack investigators as the disputed first report of the battle states 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."[3] Gregory Blake (2012) 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.[4]