Under leaden skies the Brig 'Indispensable', her Master Henry Best in command, slipped out of Portsmouth Harbour on 2 March 1809 to begin her 12,000 mile long journey to Sydney Cove, via Rio De Janeiro and Cape of Good Hope, arriving on 18 August 1809.

On board along with crew, passengers and sixty one female convicts was the Reverend William Cowper, his wife Ann, and their four children, Henry, Thomas, Mary Stephena and Charles.

Thus begins a story that has come 200 years, of one family, their heirs and descendants.