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Report of Joseph Luker's murder in the Sydney Gazette 28 August 1803

From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[Sydney Gazette, 28 August 1803, p4 (detail, from facsimile edition)]

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Appears in
The murder of Constable Joseph Luker
Subjects
Crime Police Victims of crime
Artefacts
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
People
Luker, Joseph
Organisation
Colonial police

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State Library of New South Wales

The murder of Constable Joseph Luker

Convict Joseph Luker placed his past firmly behind him when he decided to pursue a career as a police constable in colonial Sydney. This transition from law breaker to law enforcer would also see him become the first officer of the law killed in the line of duty in Australia.

Crime

Victims of crime

Police

Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser

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First newspaper published in Sydney, from 5 March 1803 until 20 October 1842. 

Originally printed in a lean-to shed at the back of Government House, the newspaper moved to different premises in Macquarie Place in 1808 and then to a building on lower George Street in December 1810. In 1824 the printery moved again to a larger two storey building further south on George Street on the corner of Charlotte Place. 

Luker, Joseph

Former convict who joined Sydney's early police force in 1796. He was murdered in 1803, the first police officer killed in the line of duty in New South Wales. 

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Colonial police

In 1796, Governor Hunter reorganised the night watch that had been established in 1789 to maintain law and order in the colony. The new structure of the 'civil police' was more formal than that of the night watch, with each region under the control of local magistrates. Police officers were initially still selected from the best behaved former convicts however. The number of regions was increased at the same time, enabling police jurisdiction to be extended as far as Toongabbie, the Hawkesbury and Parramatta.

In January 1811 the organisation was again restructured with the introduction by Macquarie of the new role of Police Superintendent. Often referred to in secondary sources as the Sydney Foot Police in order to differentiate it from the other specialist police forces that developed like the Mounted Police and Water Police, this does not appear to have ever been an official title of the department. The separate forces were united in 1862 with the Police Regulation Act of 1862 and the establishment of the New South Wales Police Force. 

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