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A Bank for the People: a History of the State Bank of Victoria
For a century and a half the State Bank of Victoria played an honoured role in the lives of VIctorians. Many opened an account with the SSB while still at school, took out a Bank housing loan to purchase their first house and continued to bank with the SBV (as it became) throughout their working lives and into retirement.
The Bank was established in 1842 as the Savings Bank of Port Phillip to encourage thrift among the "labouring population", a tradition the Bank continued throughout its history. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, through the gold rushes, the land boom and the crash that followed, the Bank evolved into a Victoria-wide network of Savings Banks. These were consolidated at the turn of the century into what was renamed the State Savings Bank in 1912.
In the 1920s the Bank became a major lender for housing. A "Bank home", selected from the Bank's book of standard designs and built under Bank supervision, became an affordable symbol of achievement for many Victorians. By the mid-1920s the Bank was the largest home builder in Victoria. The Garden City development at Fisherman's Bend pioneered the construction of low cost housing estates, foreshadowing the work of the Housing Commission.
After the depression of the 1930s the Bank resumed its role in financing housing, and World War II saw the growth of the numbers of women employed by the Bank, a trend that continued in the post-war period. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the Bank steadily expanded and added to the range of services it offered. The Bank met the changing times with increased mechanisation and the growth of its advertising budget, with the Bank sponsoring 'The Mickey Mouse Club', one of the most popular television series of the period.
By 1980 the Bank was a trading bank in its own right, offering the full range of banking services. In the turbulent period following banking deregulation in the mid-1980s, the Bank grew rapidly but the disastrous losses incurred by its merchant banking subsidiary, Tricontinental, led to the sale of the Bank to the Commonwealth Bank in 1990.
Kate White and Robert Murray skilfully reveal the story of the SBV - the personalities and conflicts that shaped the Bank, the historical circumstances in which the Bank developed and the influence of the Bank on the development of the Victorian community. They write of the men and the women who worked in the Bank, of the management and Commissioners who controlled it and of the politicians who guided its destiny.
The Bank was established in 1842 as the Savings Bank of Port Phillip to encourage thrift among the "labouring population", a tradition the Bank continued throughout its history. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, through the gold rushes, the land boom and the crash that followed, the Bank evolved into a Victoria-wide network of Savings Banks. These were consolidated at the turn of the century into what was renamed the State Savings Bank in 1912.
In the 1920s the Bank became a major lender for housing. A "Bank home", selected from the Bank's book of standard designs and built under Bank supervision, became an affordable symbol of achievement for many Victorians. By the mid-1920s the Bank was the largest home builder in Victoria. The Garden City development at Fisherman's Bend pioneered the construction of low cost housing estates, foreshadowing the work of the Housing Commission.
After the depression of the 1930s the Bank resumed its role in financing housing, and World War II saw the growth of the numbers of women employed by the Bank, a trend that continued in the post-war period. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the Bank steadily expanded and added to the range of services it offered. The Bank met the changing times with increased mechanisation and the growth of its advertising budget, with the Bank sponsoring 'The Mickey Mouse Club', one of the most popular television series of the period.
By 1980 the Bank was a trading bank in its own right, offering the full range of banking services. In the turbulent period following banking deregulation in the mid-1980s, the Bank grew rapidly but the disastrous losses incurred by its merchant banking subsidiary, Tricontinental, led to the sale of the Bank to the Commonwealth Bank in 1990.
Kate White and Robert Murray skilfully reveal the story of the SBV - the personalities and conflicts that shaped the Bank, the historical circumstances in which the Bank developed and the influence of the Bank on the development of the Victorian community. They write of the men and the women who worked in the Bank, of the management and Commissioners who controlled it and of the politicians who guided its destiny.
515 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
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