It's often used as a symbol of protest but, for Ron Egeberg, the sight of the Eureka flag in demonstrations marred by gallows and nooses this week was hard to accept.
A descendant of a Eureka rebel, Mr Egeberg said the flag should not have been flown at this week's protests, nor at riots earlier in September during which the Shrine of Remembrance was urinated on.
More rallies are expected in cities around the nation this weekend.
Mr Egeberg said the flag symbolised a "triumph of common rights succeeding over excessive force and unjust laws".
"In a peaceful protest, it is appropriate that the flag can be seen because it stands for exactly that – what it truly means to be Australian, our democracy," Mr Egeberg said.
A democratic legacy
The 167th anniversary of the Eureka flag is approaching.
Miners on the Ballarat goldfields unfurled the flag on Bakery Hill on November 29, 1854, as they protested against excessive taxation and demanded political representation.
More than 10,000 people were present as the diggers raised the flag and burnt mining licences in defiance.
Government forces launched a dawn attack on the Eureka Stockade the following Sunday, with more than 22 diggers' lives lost in less than an hour.
All but one miner was acquitted of charges ultimately brought against them, and taxation and land reforms followed a subsequent royal commission.
"The Eureka rebellion was the foundation of our Australian democracy," Mr Egeberg, also the former director of Ballarat's Eureka Centre, said.
Flag taken out of context
Federal Labor MP Catherine King has previously pushed for the Eureka flag to be given official recognition as a national symbol under the Flags Act.
Ms King, who represents the electorate of Ballarat, said she would like protesters "to find another symbol" to rally around.
"It's being purloined by left and right groups, and I think it's frustrating to those of us who care deeply about its history and its place in our democratic tradition to see it used in violent protests in the way that it is being used," she said.
"For those of us who've been trying for a long time to have the proper historic context of the flag recognised, it sets that cause back every time."
Protection not a simple task
Mr Egeberg said formal national recognition would not stop protesters using the Eureka flag, but would at least enshrine its meaning in law.
Ms King said it had been difficult to build consensus around the need to protect the flag, and that its values became distorted when political groups "besmirch the flag in the way they use it".
"People have every right to peacefully protest but it is not a peaceful protest when you bring gallows, when you threaten to kill someone," she said.
"And people who are participating in that need to reflect on whether it's an appropriate way of protesting and something they want to be associated with."
