File:Dawn Panorama - Eureka Stockade 150th anniversary in 2004 (5686751703).jpg

At dawn on December 3, 2004 people gathered around Lake Penhalluriack and the Eureka Stockade Centre in Eureka Park, Ballarat where the official 150th anniversary commemorative ceremony occurred. A short narration of the story of the 1854 Eureka rebellion and it's suppression by armed British military and the colonial Victorian Police force was read by the iconic Australian actor John Flaus. The event also featured a welsh choir, a naval brass band, didgeridoo and clap sticks.

More than 2,000 people attended, many with Eureka flags. Students from Heidelberg primary school were present. Many union banners, in particular the CFMEU and ETU flags waved in the slight breeze, as the sun slowly rose striking the Eureka sail on the Eureka Stockade Centre.

The television news got their 30 seconds of visuals, radio stations got their sound grabs and the audience got their theatrical spectacular. The best special effects were provided by nature: the crowd watched the colours of the dawn sky, the light change on the people and the Eureka Stockade Centre with its enormous Eureka flag banner.

Five fires burned in the lake, and as sunrise ocurred the fires one by one were extinguished, to the sound of the Welsh choir and a solo singer and the Naval brass band dressed in naval whites.

Union members trickled back to the Memorial Hall for breakfast. Unionists from Eureka Tiles across the road walked out of their factory to join their fellow unionists in Eureka Park. There was disgust that the Bracks Labor Government chose not to make the day a state public holiday for the 150th anniversary of Eureka - a formative day for the pursuit and achievement of democratic rights in the Victorian colony and generally in Australia.