 Luker had been deported as a convict from Middlesex, England and disembarked at Jervis Bay from the "Atlantis" in 1791, as part of the Third Fleet after a voyage of 146 days.In 1796, Luker was declared a freeman and became a police constable.On 26 August 1803, Luker was on a routine night patrol of Back Row East, now Phillip Street, Sydney, where a series of robberies had occurred.