These are manuscript copies of official notices in the Gazette, entered for record purposes into a letterbook and signed (in most cases) personally by the Colonial Secretary, whose function it was to see to their publication. Any Government and General Orders appearing in the Gazette were to be "considered as Official Communications, and obeyed accordingly by the respective persons to whom they may have reference".The range of documents included is wide: proclamations, Acts of Council, Instructions for officers in charge of convict ships, land grant regulations, Garrison orders, invitations for tenders; and the range of subjects covered is almost without limit.

Vol. 2 overlaps vol. 1, and to some extent duplicates it. Government Notices and Government Orders begin to be numbered in separate annual series from January 1828. Government Notices in general publish information, and Government Orders convey directions, though this distinction is not always consistently followed. Each volume has its own index to both personal names and subjects, with sub-entries for multiple entries under one heading. The series was apparently discontinued in 1830.

These records are part of the holdings of the Tasmanian Archives