[Editor: This is a chapter from The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni. A glossary has been provided to explain various words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to modern readers.]
LXXXII.
VICTORIA’S “SOUTHERN CROSS.”
Tune — The “Standard Bearer.”
I.
When Ballaarat unfurled the “Southern Cross,”
Of joy a shout ascended to the heavens;
The bearer was Toronto’s Captain Ross;
And frightened into fits red-taped ravens.Chorus. For brave Lalor—
Was found “all there,”
With dauntless dare:
His men inspiring:
To wolf or bear,
Defiance bidding,
He made them swear —
Be faithful to the Standard, for victory or death. (Bis.)II.
Blood-hounds were soon let loose, with grog imbued,
And murder stained that Sunday! Sunday morning;
The Southern Cross in digger’s gore imbrued,
Was torn away, and left the diggers mourning!Chorus.
III.
Victoria men, to scare, stifle, or tame,
Ye quarter-deck monsters are too impotent;
The Southern Cross will float again the same,
UNITED Britons, ye are OMNIPOTENT.Chorus.
———
Thus I had spanned the strings of my harp, but the strain broke them asunder in the gaol.
Source:
Raffaello Carboni. The Eureka Stockade: The Consequence of Some Pirates Wanting on Quarter-Deck a Rebellion, Public Library of South Australia, Adelaide, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], pages 104-105
Editor’s notes:
bis = (Latin) “again” or “repeat”, a term used, especially in music, to ask that a passage or performance be repeated
Victoria’s Southern Cross = a reference to the flag flown by the Eureka miners (which depicted a stylised Southern Cross), now commonly known as the Eureka Flag
The Institute of Australian Culture
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