From Victoria to New Zealand

Above:'Argus', Tuesday, September 1, 1863.

Anthony Edward Corvan joined the Volunteers at Geelong.He would have had to produce certificates of character from a former employer or some persons who had known him for 12 months at least previously and adjust his age so that it appeared that he was under the age of 40 when in fact he was about 43.
Anthony's age has always been uncertain. The only document thus discovered that gives an age for him is the birth certificate of his Victorian-born son in 1856. Anthony himself gave his age as 36 when he registered the birth in February of 1856, giving him a birth year of approximately 1820 if he was being truthful with his age.The 1841 census gives his birth year as about 1823, but ages are notoriously incorrect in this census due to the rounding down of ages.
I wonder why Anthony travelled to Geelong to join when he could have done so in Melbourne? Perhaps he went to a place where nobody knew him since he was taking liberty with one truth(and perhaps more).
Whatever the case, Anthony Edward Corvan signed up with the 1st Regiment of the New Zealand Militia on August 28, 1863. He gave his occupation as "Traveller", which fits in with the information given on his daughter Rosa's marriage certificate six years later when she described him as a "Commercial traveller".
Events moved very quickly once Anthony had enlisted.Within days they were in Melbourne and boarding the ship 'Star of India' which had been chartered to take the first shipment of volunteers to Auckland.
The Argus of Tuesday, September1, 1863, reported:
"Our Geelong Correspondent writes,-'The first batch of Volunteers from Geelong, numbering thirty, left town this morning by the first train, to proceed on board the Star of India, in Hobson's Bay.
The men looked remarkably well, and the fine band of the Artillery Brigade played them through the town to the station, where they were met by Mr. William Fraser, Colonel Pitt's agent here, who called over the roll of names. He then escorted them out to the West Geelong Station, where they were handed over to a Sergeant proceeding to Melbourne with the Ballarat contingent."

STOP THE PRESSES!!!! Thanks to the kindness of a wonderful New Zealand researcher, Jeni Palmer,I now have the information for Anthony Corvan/Cowan as given by the Nominal Roll for the 1st Waikato Volunteers:-
COWAN, Anthony Edward.
No 342, enlisted 28 Aug 1863, Geelong.
Born St James, Middlesex, England.
Traveler, 37 years, 5 ft 6 ¼ in tall.
Star of India.
Single.
Discharge 5 Oct 1866 sub provided.

The "Single" is the very interesting bit, and leaves us with several options to ponder.I can find no death for Mary Corvan(or various spellings)anywhere. Life on the goldfields was pretty wild and woolly, so she may have taken up with another man without marrying and we will never find her death.Of course, Anthony was known to distort the truth, so he very well may have gone to Geelong where nobody knew him, dropped his age by several years and said he was single...he was out of the country within a week, probably before any of his family knew what he had done.

His very small height was also interesting...his daughter Rosa was a very tiny lady not much more than five feet tall.