Notes on the fly-leaves of these volumes indicate that the contents were received in the Colonial Secretary's Office from Government House in 1843 and August - October 1848; they were apparently an accumulation of papers which had either been sent direct to the Private Secretary or the Lieutenant- Governor, or referred to Government House by the Colonial Secretary in the normal course of business and for one reason or another not returned; some are registered in various series.

The papers are not bound in chronological order; the subjects covered are completely miscellaneous, but often of quite an important nature. For example, there are letters from high officials (Chief Justice, Attorney-General, the Bishop) who claimed the right to correspond with the Lieutenant-Governor direct; there are also reports of boards of enquiry set up by the Lieutenant- Governor. Many letters are of a semi-private nature (both to the Lieutenant- Governor and the Colonial Secretary), and memorials from individuals are probably the biggest single class of documents present.

These records are part of the holdings of the Tasmanian Archives