Showing posts with label Banks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Banks. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Koo-Wee-Rup ANZ / E.S. & A Bank

The ANZ Bank in Rossiter Road is closing down in the next few weeks (May 2015) so this is a look at the early history of the bank in Koo-Wee-Rup. The bank started in the town 110 years ago as the London Bank, in 1920 the London Bank amalgamated with the English, Scottish & Australian Bank (E.S. & A Bank) who in turn amalgamated with the ANZ in 1970.

The Garfield branch of the London Bank was established in 1905 and in August 1905 an Agency had been established at Koo-Wee-Rup and by the next year there were Agencies at Iona and Tynong. The first manager was Clarence Adeney, described in one report as the ‘genial Mr Adeney’ and described by David Mickle as ‘a kind and gentle man’. He retired in early 1920 and was replaced by Mr W. K Patterson.


Above: Article from South Bourke and Mornington Journal, August 16 1905
  
The Lang Lang Guardian reported on September 5 1906 that Mr A. Woodman had accepted a contract from the London Bank to erect a Bank chambers and dwelling at an estimated cost of £600. The construction was to be of oregon and plaster and it was also proposed to use tiles for the roof.  An advertisement in the same paper in the November said the London Bank Agency had been converted into a branch and ‘will be open daily for the transaction of all usual banking business’ – so I believe this would have coincided with the completion of the new building.

The Bank was obviously going well as in October 1912 they purchased the site of their building for a ‘satisfactory price’ according to the South Bourke & Mornington Journal.

In 1919, a ‘Receiving Agency’ was established by the bank at Dalmore - it opened Wednesdays from 10.15am to 1.00pm.


Above: E.S. & A. Bank in  Station Street, Koo-Wee-Rup c. 1940s
Below: The Lang Lang Bank 

In the October of 1919 the Koo-Wee-Rup Sun reported that The contractor for the alterations to the London Bank at Koo-Wee-Rup has the work well in hand and will complete it in a few weeks. It speaks well for Koo-Wee-Rup when the local bank has to enlarge its premises. The extra room will be needed in anticipation for the next record season. The second storey was added at this time and the banking chamber was enlarged, a manager’s office added as well as a room upstairs to be used as residential quarters. A strong room was also constructed and the ‘premises were renovated throughout’.

The works were not completed until the December owing to ‘labour trouble, strikes and railway delays’  The architects were Ballantyne and Hare – who designed houses in Malvern and Toorak and in 1929 Cedric Ballantyne designed  the Regent Theatre in Melbourne.

The Cardinia Shire Heritage Study describes the Bank as an early example of the architectural style known as ‘towards modernism’ and it is one of three former E.S. & A Banks on the Heritage Study. The other ones are the Garfield Bank, which was built in 1925 and the Lang Lang Bank, which was built in 1929.  The Garfield Bank is thought to have been designed by Twentyman & Askew, the same Architects as the Lang Lang bank. 

There was an E.S & A. Agency at Cora Lynn, which was staffed about a morning a week and closed in the early 1960s. 



Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The E.S. & A / ANZ Bank at Garfield

One of the prominent buildings in Main Street of Garfield is the old ANZ Bank building. The bank was built as an E.S. & A. bank and is actually one of the three old E. S & A. banks on the Cardinia Shire Heritage Study. The other two are at Koo Wee Rup (built 1919) and Lang Lang (built 1929).   The Garfield Bank is thought to have been designed by Twentyman & Askew, the same Architects as the Lang Lang bank.

The 1996 Cardinia Shire Heritage Study, which was undertaken by Graeme Butler & Associates, describes the building as a two storey clinker brick and stucco building...with Greek/Georgian revival stylistic treatment including the hipped and tiled roof, Doric order colonettes at the main window opening, saltire cross glazing mullions, expressed voussoirs over the two doorways, smooth rustication in the central window, the 8-panel door pair, the bayed symmetrical elevation and the multi pane glazing. [A saltire cross is an x shaped cross and a voussoir is a wedge-shaped or tapered stone used to construct an arch]



The Bank in 1962. Photograph taken from the Back to Garfield booklet. The back-to was held June 1-4, 1962.


Banking services began in Garfield in 1905 when the London Bank of Australia opened an Agency of the Warragul Branch. This Agency was converted to a Branch soon after. The first manager was Clarence Adeney. So successful was this Branch that in February 1906 an Agency had been established at Koo Wee Rup and by the next year there were Agencies at Iona and Tynong. In July 1908, the Bank began the construction of new premises, which would be the first brick building in the town. This building is now a private house on the corner of Railway Avenue and Garfield Road. The next Manager was Edward Hattersley who was there in 1909, but had left by 1913. William Rupert Aspinall was the next Manager and he left around August 1917, having been shifted to Moama. Hugh Gardner is the next Manager I can trace and he was in Garfield in 1918. Gardner was the manager in 1921 when the London Bank of Australia was taken over by the English, Scottish & Australian Bank Ltd and I believe they used the London Bank premises until the new building was built.

When was this building built? The Heritage Study lists the build date of the bank as 1925, but I am not convinced this is correct and I believe it was more likely around 1931. Firstly, the Shire of Berwick Rate Books had listed the building through the 1920s under the Managers name and then in 1931 it changed to Arthur Nutting, who was shop keeper and also owned other property in the area, so I believe this was the time they built the new premises and sold off their superfluous old premises. Secondly, Bill Parish in his history of Garfield, published in the 1962 ‘back to’ souvenir book says the building was erected in the 1930s.

E.S & A bank advertisement  from the Back to Garfield booklet.

Mr Gardner was at Garfield until around July 1926 when he was promoted to Cheltenham. The staff at the bank presented him with a gold wrist watch and at a ‘public send-off by citizens’ he was presented with a cheque, and gold sovereign case. His wife, Florence, and his two daughters were also presented with gold wrist watches, an extraordinary set of gifts which shows the esteem that Bank Managers were once held in.  His replacement John Jessup only lasted a few years before he was transferred to Dunolly in 1928. The ‘women of Garfield’ presented Mrs Jessup with a handbag as a departure gift.

Mr Jessup’s replacement was Stanley Howell, who was at Garfield until 1935 when he was transferred to Burwood. When Stanley and Margret Howell left Garfield they ‘were entertained and presented with wallet of notes’. Other known staff in the early days was a Mr L.G Evans, accountant, who transferred to Garfield from Dunolly in 1927. Perhaps Mr Evans extolled the virtues of Dunolly to Mr Jessup and that’s why he moved there. Other accountants at the branch were Mr E. Judge who left Garfield for Warragul in 1924. His successor was Mr Pask.

The E.S & A. Bank Ltd merged with the ANZ Bank in 1970. There was an E.S & A. Agency at Cora Lynn, which was staffed about a morning a week and closed in the early 1960s.

The little building to the right of the bridge is the old E.S & A Bank at Cora Lynn, taken October 20, 1937 (State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photograph)