State Archives Collection

A brief overview of the administration of bankruptcy and a list of the main records series

How to find all the details of NSW bankruptcy and insolvency records

Bankruptcy is a state in which a person is unable to pay creditors and is required to undergo a legal process that usually results in liquidation the estate in order to meet expenses (at least in part).

Bankruptcy files contain lists of creditors that the bankrupt person owed money to and debtors that owed money to the bankrupt person

Among the entries in the Port Macquarie Small Debts Register is one of Port Macquarie’s more notable residents - Dr Charles Lamonnerie Dictus Fattorini, rumoured to be the illegitimate son of Napoleon Bonaparte

Insolvency is the inability to pay debts or meet expenses. Under early colonial law insolvency was treated as a different concept to bankruptcy (which involved an insolvents assets being administered and distributed to creditors)