The objects for which the Lady Nelson's voyages were undertaken render her logbooks of more than ordinary interest.

She was essentially an Australian discovery ship and during her successive commissions she was employed exclusively in Australian waters.

The number of voyages that she made will perhaps never be accurately known, but her logbooks in existence testify to the important missions that she accomplished.

The most notable are those which record early discoveries in Victoria: the exploration of the Queensland coast: the surveys of King Island and the Kent Group: the visits to New Zealand and the founding of settlements at Hobart, Port Dalrymple, and Melville Island.

Seldom can the logbooks of a single ship show such a record.