Early manuscript document pre-dating the departure of the First Fleet concerning two principal figures in the foundation of the penal colony at New South Wales. The letter concerns a directive of Lord Sydney and is signed by Evan Nepean in his role as Under–Secretary of State. Nepean (1752-1822) was appointed secretary to Lord Shuldham, Port–Admiral at Plymouth in 1782, and later that year became Under–Secretary of State in the Home Department. In this capacity he was concerned in the arrangements for the dispatch of the First Fleet and the administration of the newly established settlement at Sydney Cove during its formative years. Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, is remembered as the principal instigator of the British colonisation of Australia, a keen proponent of convict transportation and close associate of Sir Joseph Banks.

Early manuscript document pre-dating the departure of the First Fleet concerning two principal figures in the foundation of the penal colony at New South Wales. The letter concerns a directive of Lord Sydney and is signed by Evan Nepean in his role as Under–Secretary of State. Nepean (1752-1822) was appointed secretary to Lord Shuldham, Port–Admiral at Plymouth in 1782, and later that year became Under–Secretary of State in the Home Department. In this capacity he was concerned in the arrangements for the dispatch of the First Fleet and the administration of the newly established settlement at Sydney Cove during its formative years. Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, is remembered as the principal instigator of the British colonisation of Australia, a keen proponent of convict transportation and close associate of Sir Joseph Banks.

In this letter, written in his official capacity as Under–Secretary of State, Nepean transmits a directive of Lord Sydney to the Scotsman Hamilton Fleming, who had recently submitted a petition to the Crown claiming ancestral right to a title. The letter is fully signed 'Evan Nepean', who was honoured in the colony through the naming of the Nepean River in New South Wales, and later Point Nepean in Victoria.