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.
Milestone
Arrived Sydney
20 Aug 1791
{"name":"Arrived Sydney","target":"","target_text":null,"date":{"#markup":"<span class='date'>20 Aug 1791<\/span>"},"date_start":"1791-08-20","date_end":"1791-08-20"}
Died
Sydney
26 Aug 1803
{"name":"Died","target":"","target_text":"Sydney","date":{"#markup":"<span class='date'>26 Aug 1803<\/span>"},"date_start":"1803-08-26","date_end":"1803-08-26"}
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.
With colonisation came numerous acts of violence inflicted upon the First Nations people, including murder. It was several years, however, before murders were committed in Sydney by the colonists upon each other. Identifying Australia’s oldest case of unsolved murder in this context is not necessarily a straightforward task.
