I have been assisting a friend researching Joseph Packer (c1830-1868) who is said to have married Mary Egan (1831-1905) in Western Australia around c1853 and have encountered a few hurdles that I am hoping someone here may be able to help me with.

I was struck by the similarity between the Joseph Packer I am researching and the convict Joseph Packer who arrived in Fremantle in 1851 aboard the Minden.
Both were born in London around 1830 and both arrived in Western Australia at about the same time. This led to me wonder if the Joseph Packer I am researching is the convict Joseph Packer. However, I soon discovered a document from the convict records that claims that the Joseph Packer who arrived on the Minden died in 1852 as a result of being 'accidentally shot' on 13 April 1852 or 1853. (The Ancestry database says 1852, while the Fremantle Prison database says 1853. One is obviously a typo but I don't know which).

I then searched on the Western Australian Births Deaths and Marriages site to find the death registration of the convict Joseph Packer and was surprised to find that there wasn't one. Is this a usual occurrence?

Next I searched for a marriage registration for Mary Egan and Joseph Packer and was again surprised to find that there wasn't one. I had a list of their children obtained from Joseph and Mary's death certificates and began searching for their birth registrations. Again, I was surprised to discover that the first five of their children appear to have not had their births registered.

The children are as follows:
Esther/Hester b. c1854 in WA but no record of registration
MaryAnn b. c1856 in SA but no record of registration
Joseph b. c1858 in SA but no record of registration
Julia b. c1860 in Vic but no record of registration
Margaret b. c1863 in Vic and registered
William b. c1865 in Vic and d in 1939 in Vic and registered
John b. c1867 in Vic and registered


The official documented history of this family strikes me as very patchy and a little unusual. I haven't before come across a family where the marriage and the first five children aren't registered. I imagine this is a little uncommon for the 1850s.

It appears that Joseph Packer and Mary Egan were doing their best to get a long way away from the penal settlement of Western Australia where their relationship began.Is it possible that Joseph Packer didn't register his marriage or his first five children because he was on the run from Western Australia? Is it possible that he is the convict and that the record of the convict's death was covering up the absconding of Joseph Packer? Is this too far fetched?

Any help would be gratefully received.