On the recommendation of Commissioner Bigge, Edward Barnard was in 1822 appointed by the Secretary of State as Agent in England for New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land; until 1832 his whole salary was paid by New South Wales, when Van Diemen's Land undertook to pay one-third. The despatches in this series reflect his duties: the collection and payment of salaries in England on behalf of colonial officers; the handling of English estates of persons dying in the Colony; the answering of English enquiries about colonists; the despatch of stores. The copies were kept in two volumes; in the first (to 1831) they are interspersed with despatches to the Under-Secretary (see GO26/3) and have a separate register; in the second the register only remains, the few despatches having been removed by the Private Secretary and the volume used for another purpose (see GO32). The registers give a summary of the contents of each despatch. For correspondence received from the Colonial Agent see GO39/2.

These records are part of the holdings of the Tasmanian Archives