John Hockey, C.E. - Query on John HOCKEY

Hello Leanne,
This is a very interesting profile. As you know, I believe he is most probably a fiction invented in Australia to cover for the illegitimacy of the children - all girls who would change their names on marriage.
Charlotte claimed he was a surveyor, and a website suggests that CE might stand for Civil Engineer, but a civil engineer would not usually be a surveyor, a much more humble role.
None of the Somerset newspapers identify anyone named John Hockey as a surveyor or engineer in the relevant time period, and he would be mentioned if he was active in the community. Bath was a thriving city with a lot of building going on, but no reference to a John Hockey either working for local authorities or private builders. Same for other towns. Certainly no John Hockey in Shepton Mallet which was expanding to take in surrounding villages at that time.
There is exactly no evidence for the existence of such a person, least of all in a public facing role. Records for the midC19th are pretty reliable and there is no birth for a John Hockey, and certainly no marriage to Charlotte, who goes by her maiden name throughout her life. If she was a married woman, and married to a professional man, she would have been widowed with a healthy pension invested in The Funds at 3%, not coming to Victoria as a migrant and setting up as a dressmaker in Geelong - newspaper ads do not show her as a milliner as suggested by descendants, but she might have made hats along with her main business.
So, I think C.E. is also a fiction added to the name to provide veracity. I believe she told stories to her daughters about the man who was their father (who was possibly John Hunt) so they didn't know they were not legitimate, just as any mother would. Having the support of her parents at a time when most would have shunned her would lend veracity to her story about John Hockey and her widowed status.
Marie

Jennifer Burrell in her comprehensive family tree seems to suggest that all Charlotte's daughters had John Hockey as their father on death certificates. I have added a lot of her work in Geni because her family contacts and resources are so much better than anything I can find. Ms Burrell also recognises there is no John Hockey and proposes John Hunt as the possible incentive for Charlotte to pack up and go to Victoria where her brothers Samuel and James were living after completing their sentences in VDL.
I really think that if her descendants, with all their resources and intent on finding evidence, cannot identify John Hockey, then he is probably fictitious. I perfectly understand they might prefer to leave the existence or non-existence of a marriage as an open question.
So sad that Amelia and Eliza died age 30ish and so many of their children died in infancy.