© Feb 2024, Peter J Williams, Grad Dip Local and Applied History
Before 1946
At the time of the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901, provision was made in the new Constitution (Section 51) for the Commonwealth Government to legislate regarding “banking other than State banking”. It was thought that a Commonwealth Government Bank was needed to implement federal works, such as the completion of a federal capital, development of the defence services and similar projects.1
The following year, the Australian Agricultural Company commenced mining operations on land adjoining the late James Weston’s grant. In 1903, Weston’s heirs subdivided their property to create the private township of Weston. The mine and town were rapidly developed over the following years. Calls for the establishment of a branch of the Government Savings Bank in Weston were made in June 1904.
“Weston.
Savings Bank.
The following letter has been received by Mr J Gillies, MP, from the Treasury:-‘Referring to the letter of the 27th April, addressed to you by the Weston Progress Committee, and by you presented at the General Post-office, urging the establishment of a branch of the Government Savings Bank at Weston, I have the honour, by direction of the Premier and Colonial Treasurer, to inform you that a branch will be opened at that place on the 1st July.”2
It is unclear if those early plans were enacted, as three years later, calls were still being made for a bank in Weston.
“Weston.
The Weston Progress Committee met at the Aberdare Hotel on Friday last, Mr R B Emanuel presiding…
Lengthy discussion took place re approaching some banking company to open a branch at Weston, and it was resolved to ask the co-operation of various progress committees of the district, and also business people, to give their support in establishing a bank at Weston, it being the most suitable and central town.”3
Eventually, a branch of the State Savings Bank was established in Weston, perhaps in the period 1910 to 1914.4
As a preliminary step towards creating a commonwealth bank, in 1910, the Commonwealth Government assumed sole control over the issue of bank notes in Australia.5
Clark described the period 1901 to 1919 as “The Age of the Optimists”. He wrote that the Labor Party’s “contribution to social welfare legislation between 1910 and 1913 was meagre. They passed an act to create the Commonwealth Bank that, after the froth and bubble talk of a people’s bank had been skimmed off, was the old pale brew. The existing system of banking was to be made more efficient by introducing competition between private and state enterprise.”6
The Commonwealth Bank Act of 1911, introduced by Andrew Fisher’s Labor government, established the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, taking effect on 22 December that year. Provision was made for both savings and general bank business, and a federal government guarantee. The first branch was opened in July 1912 in Melbourne. Bank business was also transacted through post office agencies. By 1913, there were branches in all six states. The head office was moved to Sydney in 1916.7
Ward wrote:
“Easily the most controversial legislation was the creation of the Commonwealth Bank, sponsored most vociferously, if not always most effectively, by King O’Malley, a colourful Tasmanian Labor representative in the federal Parliament from 1901 to 1917… the Commonwealth Bank was to be a ‘people’s bank’ which would drive ‘capitalist banks’ out of existence and usher in the millennium, and it was to help and comfort private enterprise too. In fact, from its inception the Commonwealth Bank controlled the note issue and increasingly exercised central banking functions. At the same time, it competed successfully with private banks for all ordinary business and soon became the dominant financial institution of the country.”8
During WWI, the banks played a very important role in financing wartime operations. In 1929, the Commonwealth Bank took over the gold reserves, and in following years during the Depression helped to establish the basis for recovery.9 During WWII, in emergency war-time legislation, the Bank received almost all central bank powers. In the years after the war, the Bank expanded, opening hundreds of branches throughout Australia.10
The First Building 1946 – The Agency (Rented Premises)
On 21 January 1946, an Agency of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was established at Weston. The Agency was attached to its parent branch at Kurri Kurri and was available for the transaction of general business banking only. It operated from 74 Cessnock Road, Weston, in premises leased from Nathan Mark Bailey for twelve months, with an option to renew for a further 12 months. The opening hours of the Agency were Monday and Friday, from 10 am to 1 pm only.11
Nathan Mark Bailey12 was born in 1886 at St Albans, Macdonald River, son of Mark Bailey and Ann Harris. He was married in 1909 in Sydney to Ida Maud Phelps. Nathan was a blacksmith and contractor by occupation. They had four children in the Marrickville district prior to 1918. The family had interests in Weston prior to 1914 and later lived at 53 Second Street. Around 1956, they retired to 29 West St, Petersham, Sydney, where Mrs Bailey died in 1957, and Nathan in 1966. Nathan’s brother, William Harris Bailey, was a butcher in Weston by 1947, operating from premises on Cessnock Road.
The allotment at 74 Cessnock Road, Weston, is in the Parish of Stanford, County of Northumberland and was originally part of the large section in that parish, numbered 68, granted to John Terry Hughes in 1839. That section was later acquired by the Australian Agricultural Company (as part of its coal mining interests). The Company subdivided several allotments from section 68 and made them available for sale. This allotment was designated as Lot 5 in Section C of the subdivision, and was sold on 5 May 1909 to John Blackwell of Weston, miner. Blackwell sold the allotment on 4 August 1913 to Alexander George Jewell of Weston, proprietor of the Aberdare Hotel. Jewell in turn sold the property on 30 April 1914 to Nathan Mark Bailey of St Albans, blacksmith. Bailey mortgaged the property on 11 September 1924 with the Australian Bank of Commerce Limited. On 19 July 1926, he leased part of the property (with the consent of the mortgagee) to William Noel Paul of Weston, chemist. The lease expired on 28 February 1934. Bailey took a second mortgage on that date, this time with the Bank of New South Wales. The first mortgage, with the Australian Bank of Commerce Limited, was discharged on 6 March 1934, and the second mortgage was discharged on 4 November 1946. The Certificate of Title has no mention of the lease to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in January 1946 – there was probably no legal reason to endorse the Certificate of Title for that purpose. The property was sold on 16 October 1961 to Ronald Bailey of Kurri Kurri, butcher. There were several later leases - to Dallis Goodall of Stanford Merthyr, hairdresser; Dallas Taggart; Arthur Alan Roach and Carol Ann Roach; and Maria Louise Harvey - after which, the title converted to a computerised folio after 1988.13
The opening of the new bank agency at Weston in 1946 was announced in the press.
“Bank Agency at Weston.
Commencing next Monday, Kurri Kurri branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia will open an agency at Cessnock Road, Weston, for the convenience of Weston patrons. The agency will be open each Monday and Friday from 10 a.m. till 1 p.m.”14
The Agency proved a success, and it was noted that business from Weston residents was high enough at the Kurri Kurri branch to justify the establishment of a full branch in Weston. About 20% of account holders at the Kurri Kurri branch lived in the Weston area. The Weston Progress Association made representations in 1947 to the Council of the Shire of Kearsley to apply for a full time Commonwealth Bank or Agency at Weston.15
The Second Building 1949 - The Full Branch (Prefabricated Building)
In March 1949, the new full branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was established in Weston. The new building was located on the corner of First and Station Streets, with address 44 to 48 Station Street. The allotment, measuring 66 feet on Station Street and 132 feet on First Street was purchased from the Hector family for £700. An emergency prefabricated building was erected for the opening. Initially, there were plans to erect a permanent building by the end of the year, but they did not come to fruition. A residence at the rear of the site (now designated as 51 First Street) was for the use of the bank manager and his family.16
The vendors were the descendants of Somerset, England immigrant, the late William Chapple Hector 1855-1926, butcher, and his Maitland-born wife Emily Andrews 1856-1939, of Mulbring. They had seven sons and one daughter. Many of them worked in the butchering business in Mulbring, Weston, Kurri Kurri, and Abermain. Mr Hector was listed as a butcher in Station Street, Weston, in a 1909 directory. He made a bid for Lot 1 Section 4 (purchased in 1949 by the Bank) in the Township of Weston at the auction held in April 1903. His purchase was finalised in February 1910, with the consideration being £74. When the patriarch died in 1926, he left a considerable amount of real estate in Mulbring (comprising a slaughterhouse and cattle run), Abermain, and Weston (including Lot 1 Section 4), to his surviving children William junior (born 1882), Alfred Ernest (1884), Frederick Henry (1885), Ethel May (1886), Herbert (1891), and Frank (1892), in equal shares as tenants in common. The family’s estate was complicated in following years by deaths and marriages, and by several remaining family members acting as executors of the estates of the deceased members of the family. By 1949, Frank, William junior, William’s daughter, and Alfred’s widow, were in possession of the Hector family estate, either directly or as executors. Together and in various combinations according to their roles, these four family members were the vendors in 1949 when the Bank purchased Lot 1 Section 4. The £700 consideration was divided into five £140 pound payments to the various family members and deceased estates. The witnesses to the conveyance deed are of interest. They included Jack Bower, butcher, of 30 Gillies Street, Kurri Kurri; George Harvey McDonald, carter, of Vincent Street, Mulbring; and Cyril Sydney Maher, publican, of the Aberdare Hotel, Weston. The conveyance deed, dated 22 March 1949, was signed on behalf of the purchaser (the Bank) by Francis Owen Walters of Sydney, the Chief Superintendent of the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia.17
Basil Ralston’s published memoirs included the following statements:
“Next to the Post Office was the butcher shop of Fatty Hector, unopposed for many years. In the thirties Bailey the Butcher opened next to the newsagency in Aberdare Street.”18
The bank manager, Clarence Cheeseman Lucas, served at Weston from 7 March 1949 until 23 November 1955. He was born in 1908 at Deniliquin, NSW, son of Allen William Oliver Lucas and Elizabeth Ann Chester. By 1930, he was working as a bank clerk while living in Petersham. Shortly afterwards, he moved to Hamilton, where he was described as a bank officer in 1934 and 1935. That same year, he married at West Maitland to Jean Elizabeth Tuckey. They had a daughter (Helen Mary, 1944) and two sons. By 1936, the couple had moved to Darby Street, Newcastle. In 1943, they were living at Homebush. He was then promoted to the position of bank manager in Broome, Western Australia, and from there returned to New South Wales to take up the position at Weston. Mr and Mrs Lucas and family lived in the house on First Street, behind the bank. While in Weston, Mr Lucas served as treasurer for the bowling club, and played in competitions. He competed in the Rose Bowl Consistency competition in August 1954. One of his opponents was W Buller. After leaving Weston in 1955, the Lucas family moved to Rozelle (where he worked at the Rozelle branch of the bank, and became a Justice of the Peace), and afterwards to Mascot and Maroubra. Around 1970, he retired to Forster. He died at Forster in 1975 aged 66 years. Mrs Lucas died 24 years later.
On 23 November 1955, George Allen “Gundy” Milne took over as bank manager at Weston. He served until 22 September 1959. He was born in 1902 at Emmaville, a son of Herbert Forbes Milne and Alicia Agnes Adams Sheppard, of Mudgee. He was married in 1930 in Sydney to Marjorie Alice Murray (born 1899 at Wellington, daughter of Alexander John Murray and Edith Pauling, of Mudgee). Their daughter Patricia Jean was born in 1932 in Sydney. George was working as a bank clerk from as early as 1930, and frequently relocated throughout his career. Prior to his appointment to Weston, he was at Hurstville (1930), Five Dock (1930), Drummoyne (1932-33), Randwick East (1933), Arncliffe (1934), Bondi (1935), Hurstville (1936-37), Reid ACT (1943), Lorn near Maitland (1943), Waratah (1949), and Portland near Lithgow (1949 to 1955) where he was appointed manager. While at Portland, he was appointed as a director of Portland District Hospital and served as treasurer and trustee of the local bowling club. In 1953, George and his wife went on a touring holiday for six months. That year, their daughter married engineer Harold John Nicholson at the Baptist Tabernacle, Laman Street, Newcastle. While in Weston, they lived in the bank residence at 51 First Street. After leaving Weston in 1959, his peripatetic career took him to Mullumbimby. He retired by 1963 and moved to Fremantle, Western Australia. Marjorie died in 1976 and George in 1989, and both are buried in Fremantle Cemetery.
In June 1958, Hebburn Colliery at Weston laid off 250 miners. This was the beginning of the end for the mine, and for the town’s prosperity. Many families moved away, while some miners found work in the Newcastle district and commuted. Local businesses, including the bank, must have experienced a downturn in custom afterwards.
In 1958 and 1959, the government separated the central banking functions of the Bank by creating the Reserve Bank of Australia, leaving the new Commonwealth Banking Corporation to operate purely as a commercial bank.19
On 22 September 1959, Daniel Sutherland Hutton took over as manager at Weston. He served until 26 August 1963. He was known as Dan. He was born in 1913 at Barnsley, near Wallsend, son of James Hutton and Jessie London. In the early 1930s, the family was living at 49 Bruce Street, Cooks Hill, Newcastle, and Dan was then employed as a clerk. By 1936, he had moved to Artarmon, and the following year to Wollstonecraft. In 1939, he was married at Neutral Bay to Sylvia Grace Phillips. They had children Judith Sylvia and James Richard. Early in 1942, while living at 21 Burdett Street, Hornsby, he enlisted in the Volunteer Defence Corps on part-time duty. He was taken on strength in March 1943 and underwent military training in December that year. He was discharged in September 1945. His father died in 1948, and he returned to Cooks Hill for a short while, then moved to Lambton. By 1954, he was posted to Ballina, and afterwards to Parkes and Dubbo. It seems that his appointment to Weston in 1959 was his first as branch manager, while living in the bank’s residence. After leaving Weston in 1963, he moved to Pymble, then to Mosman (by 1972), and South Turramurra (by 1977). He later lived at Lane Cove and died in 1995. His memorial is located at Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium.
John Renshaw Drive, linking Kurri to Beresfield, was constructed in 1960 to 1961 to replace the existing poor-quality connection via West Wallsend, making commuting much more viable for Weston residents who owned their own automobiles. The motor car made it easier for Weston residents to shop and transact business elsewhere, further eroding the viability of commerce in the town.
On 26 August 1963, Robert Burnet Patch took over as manager at Weston. He served until 3 November 1968. He was born in 1924 at Sarina, near Mackay, Queensland, third son of Thomas Walter Patch and Dorothy Nicholson, and known as Bob. In 1940, while a student at the State High School in Mackay, he passed the State Public Service examination and obtained employment as a clerk with the Department of Agriculture in Brisbane. In May 1942, he enlisted in the RAAF. He was then described as 5 ft 4 in in height, 120 lbs weight, sallow complexion, brown eyes, and dark brown hair. In March 1943, he embarked at Melbourne for the UK, where he was attached to the RAF for 26 months as a screened air bomber. A year later, he was mentioned in newspaper reports as having participated in an offensive attack on Trappes, in occupied France, carried out by Australian Halifaxes. While on leave in November 1943, he visited Dundee in Scotland. He gained his commission in June 1944. A few months later, he spent some leave in Edinburgh, Scotland. He returned to Australia in May 1945, and was discharged in October. He then returned to civilian life and in 1949 was recorded as a bank officer at Clayfield, Brisbane and at Dulwich Hill, Sydney. In November 1950, he was living at Bondi while working at the Paddington branch of the Commonwealth Bank. In that month, he applied to join the Air Force Reserve. In April 1952, newspapers published brief reports of his engagement to “attractive Sydney air hostess, Joan Blair, who is wearing a solitaire diamond as betrothal token”. She was Joan Doris Blair of Parramatta, and the wedding took place on 5 August 1952 in Sydney. They had three sons – David Hugh, Malcolm Robert and Peter Thomas. Records then show the couple living at Peakhurst (1954), Chatswood West (1958) and Cessnock (early 1963), with Robert described as “bank officer”. After his appointment to the Weston branch in August 1963, they lived in the bank residence at 51 First Street. After leaving Weston in 1968, the family moved to Turramurra, where they remained at least until 1980. Robert died at the end of 2010 and Joan in 2022, and their memorials are located at Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, Ryde. Their son David later became Crown Prosecutor in Sydney.
By 1964, the deferred plans to replace the prefabricated building were finalised. The manager’s residence was to be replaced by a modern dwelling as well. The first step was to rearrange the site. The manager’s residence was disposed of first and relocated to another site for the purchasers. The prefabricated bank building was then moved to where the residence had been, to allow for the construction of the new bank on the Station Street frontage of the allotment.20 This also allowed the branch to continue operating during the first phase of construction.
On 7 July 1964, the Bank’s internal magazine, Bank Notes, published an article on the rearrangement of the buildings.21
“A Branch Goes Places.
Weston on the Move.
Several residents of Weston, NSW, will never be the same again. Arriving home late one night recently, they found one more house in their street than had been there at lunch time. There it stood, fully furnished if slightly off balance, glowing eerily with red and white lights, in the middle of the roadway.
Far from being the latest in immac. 3 brm, conv-to-tspt flying saucers, the apparition was, in fact, our manager’s residence, on its way to a new site.
Unlike their opposite numbers at Toronto (‘Bank Notes’ May, 1964), the staff of Weston were denied the opportunity to attack their branch as first step in a new building programme.
Instead, the manager’s residence was lifted in one piece, complete with family and belongings, and moved to another position, six streets away. Then the branch building was moved to where the residence had been.
The first part of the operation was not as easy as had been hoped. When the residence was about half way on its journey, one wheel of the low loader fell into a culvert and, by the time things were moving again, it was dark. So the house was left in the street, near the Fire Station, adorned with parking lights and a watchman aboard.
Next day, the move was finished with no further hitches.
Our Weston correspondent reports that the building of new branch premises is now well under way and it is hoped that the next move, into new modern buildings, will come before Christmas.”
The Third Building 1964 - The Full Branch (Brick Building)
The architect for the new premises was attached to the Department of Works. The contract, estimated at £19,138/6/8, was awarded to William Smurthwaite from East Maitland. Construction of the new branch building was completed on 7 August 1964, and the old, prefabricated building was disposed of, to allow construction of the new manager’s residence to begin.
William Smurthwaite was born in 1907 in Durham, England, and arrived in New South Wales in 1913. He was known as Bill. He lived with his family at Homeville, near Maitland, where his father was a signalman. He was married in 1939 at Kurri Kurri to Mavis Marie Chaney, born 1913 in Queensland, daughter of William Chaney and Pauline Sophia Widmer. After marriage, they lived at Lindsay Street, East Maitland, but by 1949 they had moved to Nerang Street, East Maitland. William was a carpenter and builder. Some of his projects in the 1950s included work for the Housing Commission of NSW (at East Maitland), the Department of Education (at Quirindi), private residences (East Maitland), and the Church of England Grammar School (Morpeth). He had retired by 1980. Mavis died in 1992 and William in 1999.
The new branch building was a single-storied brick building with the main frontage (of brickwork and glazing) on Station Street. It had an open-look counter and tellers’ boxes. The counter was 27 feet 6 inches in length. The public space measured 450 square feet, the working space 440 square feet, the manager’s office 115 square feet, the strongroom 118 square feet, and the storeroom 50 square feet. Also provided were toilets and a staff room. Fluorescent lighting was installed throughout.
The new bank manager’s residence at Weston was completed on 14 December 1964 and faced First Street. It comprised three bedrooms and ample living and entertainment areas. The following photographs were taken on 26 August 1964.
In 1966, the Bank actively supported the introduction of decimal currency.
On 3 November 1968, Ronald Eric Cram took over as manager at Weston. He served until 24 January 1983. He was born in 1923 at Young, New South Wales, son of Robert Cram and Matilda Lucy Rule. By 1941, he was working as a bank officer at the Commonwealth Bank at Young. In that year, he signed an attestation form to join the armed forces, but perhaps that did not work out. Another enlistment form was signed in June 1943, when he was described as 5 ft 7 in tall, with blue eyes, and fair hair. He served in Balikpapan, Indonesia, from May 1945 to March 1946. He was married in September 1946 at Maryborough, Queensland, to Beth GEE. They had two sons – Wayne and Darryl. Ronald was discharged in October 1946. By 1949, they had moved to Darlinghurst, Sydney. By 1954, they were back in Queensland, with an address at Ashgrove, Brisbane. Ronald was working at the Queen Street, Brisbane, branch the following year. In 1958, they were at Laidley (between Ipswich and Toowoomba), and by 1963 at Lismore, NSW. In 1968, they were at Darwin Street, Cessnock. After his appointment at Weston, they lived in the bank residence at 51 First Street with their sons. By 1980, they had moved to Metford. Ronald died at Newcastle in 1990, and Beth at Belmont in 2016.
During the 1970s, the Bank diversified its business into insurance and travel. It established a finance company (CBFC), in 1974. The major trading banks also created the first credit card, Bankcard, in Australia in 1974.22
Automated teller machines (ATMs) were rolled out by Australian banks from May 1980.23
The 1980 Electoral Roll records that 51 First Street, Weston, was occupied by Charles Joseph Higgins, self-employed, and Patricia Ann Higgins. They were probably renting from the Bank. At the time, Ronald Eric Cram, the bank manager, was living at Metford, and evidently commuting to Weston.
1983 - The Sub-Branch
On 24 January 1983, the status of the branch in Weston was downgraded to Sub-Branch (now known as a Service Centre). The new sub-branch reported to the Kurri Kurri branch.24 Sub-Branch status meant that a manager was no longer stationed at the Weston branch. This change seems to have prompted the subdivision of the allotment, which occurred in the period 29 May 1984 to 25 June 1985. The subdivision was registered as Deposited Plan 712222, which mentioned L C Hollis (possibly Laurence Christopher Hollis, solicitor, of Kelyville near Castle Hill, Sydney) and E B Randall.25 It is likely that the title also converted from Old System to Torrens Title at that time. The First Street allotment could have been sold as a separate title any time afterwards.
EFTPOS technology was introduced in 1984.26 MasterCard was offered in 1984 and Visa in 1993.27 Between 1991 and 1996, Keating’s Government fully privatised the Bank.28
Patronage of the bank sub-branch in Weston was on the decline between 1983 and 1991. It was clear that the bank was aware of this situation. This period also included the worldwide stock market crash of October 1987. The Weston branch placed an advertisement in the local primary school’s magazine in November 1991.29
“Support Your Local Bank. Which Bank? Commonwealth Bank. 42 Station St, Weston.”
In the mid-1990s, ecommerce commenced, being facilitated by widespread acceptance of credit cards and the development of SSL encryption. Telephone banking was also introduced.30
1994 - Closure
In January 1994, the editor of the Newcastle Herald31 gave an opinion of the decline of Weston at the time when the town was threatened with the closure of its branch of the Commonwealth Bank.
“Weston’s Withdrawal.
It is difficult not to feel sorry for Weston. The proposed closure of its branch of the Commonwealth Bank, the small Coalfields town’s only bank, is the latest chapter in a tale of decay that has spanned at least a decade. Further darkening the gloom of business decline in an ageing community, recent years have brought the loss of the rail line, the closure of the police station and threats to close the post office. So for many Weston residents it seems the very idea they might now lose their bank is intolerable, as if it would mark not merely the latest but the closing chapter in the town’s decline.
Despite spirited pleas by the Weston community, Cessnock City Council and Mr Eric Fitzgibbon, MHR Hunter, and despite a Cessnock council offer to transfer a $29 million account from Cessnock to Weston, the Commonwealth Bank seems firm in its decision to close the Weston branch on February 11. Even a threat by the council to withdraw its custom from the Commonwealth Bank if the closure goes ahead has failed to shake the bank’s resolve. The people of Weston have taken to the ramparts, vowing that they won’t allow the closure. The Cessnock council, too, is talking bravely, with the Mayor of Cessnock, Cr Callaghan, declaring that the battle with the bank is one the council intends to win. But despite the good intentions, the chance of victory seems remote.
While the proposed closure of the bank suggests the continuing decline of the once-thriving mining town, that decline has not gone unchallenged by residents determined to reverse the trend. Ten years ago, Weston traders, acknowledging that the town centre was dying, formed a chamber of commerce in a bid to revive it. At about the same time it was suggested that the ailing shopping centre could be revitalised by redirecting traffic through Cessnock Rd and transforming Weston’s main street, Station St, into a mall. That idea was revived and expanded upon in 1991, when a residents’ committee, inspired to make an attraction of the town’s Welsh and Geordie heritage and its mining history, looked to follow the lead of popular Hunter tourist towns such as Morpeth and Wollombi.
But dreams and determination have not been enough, and Weston remains unable to seriously propose to the bank that it should stay put because boom times are just around the corner. Weston can plead only that the aged and disadvantaged among its population could be inconvenienced if the branch closes, an argument unlikely to be more persuasive than the hard fact that the branch is unprofitable.
Commercial Reality.
According to the Commonwealth Bank’s State general manager, Mr Dick Perkins, the Weston branch is not a viable business and has not been for some time, and Mr Perkins has said the same of other branches in this region. In 1992 he declared the Murrurundi branch unviable, and, despite a determined protest campaign by residents, the branch was duly closed. Last month, Mr Perkins confirmed that the bank’s Cooks Hill sub-branch was marked for closure because it too had become unviable.
The viability of a branch is determined by the volume and quality of transactions, the number of accounts opened and closed and the social ramifications of closure. But while that last criterion might give Weston some hope it is unlikely to override cold commercial reality.
As for the Cessnock council’s $29 million carrot, it seems to have been offered too late. The bank, which according to Mr Perkins had given the closure ‘long and careful consideration’, had already made up its mind. The offer might also have been unwise. Had it been accepted, transfer of the council’s account from Cessnock to Weston might have risked the viability of the Cessnock branch.
It is sad but reasonable to consider that in the same way communities acquire amenities as they grow, the reverse also applies. If there is a sense of inevitability about the closure of the bank at Weston, it may be a reflection of the apparent inevitability of the further decline of Weston itself.”
The sub-branch was closed on 11 February 1994. Current and former residents have shared their memories.
“Weston was dealt a cruel blow in 1994 with the closure of its Commonwealth Bank. Two days after he was named the inaugural Freeman of the City of Cessnock, Edward John 'Coogan' Frame, who was born in Weston in 1917, the son of Edward John ('Bluey') and Catherine Frame, was taken into custody by the police when he and some of his retired miner mates arranged a protest at the Commonwealth Bank after being unable to persuade the CBA bureaucrats to reconsider closing the bank. (He can be seen in the protest photograph with the megaphone.) Coogan Frame decided that if that were to be the end of the town’s financial institution, then he would make sure it got a good funeral! He organised a coffin, six pallbearers and a lone piper for the event. After addressing the hundreds of local residents in the crowd, persuading them to not tear up their bankbooks, he and a few of his loyal following staged a sit-in at the bank. Coogan Frame said in frustration at the time: 'We've got a Railway Station with no trains, a Police Station with no policemen, we almost had a Post Office with no stamps and now we will have a Bank with no money!' Who can ever forget that statement!”32
The office building, at 46-48 Station Street, Weston, was sold on 16 December 2009 for $103,200.33 It was then described as occupying 810 m2 with internal space measuring 100 m2. The residence, at 51 First Street, Weston, was sold on the same date, and for $154,800.34 It was then described as occupying 501 m2 with internal space measuring 125 m2.
Staff members remembered by current and former Weston residents include (in no particular order) - Ann Day of Fifth Street, Weston; Peter Mallam; Elizabeth Holt; Allan Watson of Government Road, Weston; Sue Gray; Elizabeth Kirkup; Walter Edgell; Ron Porteus of Elrington; Allan Taylor; Jeff Richardson; Paul Callaghan; and Garth Anderson.35
After 1994
Internet banking was introduced in 1995.36
The ninth Chair of the Board of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, John Ralph, served from 1 November 1999. He was the third cousin twice removed of two residents of Weston at that time – Mrs Phyllis M Meadows and her brother Mr Albert J Williams.37
Mobile banking was introduced in the 2010s.38
In conclusion, the history of the Commonwealth Bank in Weston coincided initially with a period of maximum prosperity, when local production of coal was booming in the late 1940s. The closure of the mine just ten years later dealt a fatal blow, but the decline was prolonged over the following three decades. The downgrading of the branch’s status in 1983 presaged the inevitable closure in 1994. While the pain of the closure was felt acutely by residents at the time, subsequent advances in information and communications technology has replaced many functions previously carried out in person at the branch with the convenience of Internet and mobile banking. The history of the bank in Weston also mirrored the experience of other commercial activities in the town. While Weston might now be a quieter place in terms of local trade, the revolutionary changes in banking and commerce, brought about by the information age, have mostly effectively counterbalanced the changes in the town.
Bibliography
Ancestry.com.au.
Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder newspaper.
Clark, Manning, “A Short History of Australia”, Illustrated 2nd Edition, 1981, Macmillan Company of Australia Pty Ltd, South Melbourne.
Commissioners of the Rural Bank of New South Wales, “A Brief History of Australian Banking”, 1936.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Archives.
Falk, Julie Frame, “Weston NSW History & Heritage”, https://sites.google.com/site/westonnswaustralia.
Findagrave.com.
Gollan, Robin, “The Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Origins and Early History”, Canberra, 1968.
National Archives of Australia.
Newcastle Herald newspaper.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate newspaper.
NSW Land Titles Office, Historical Land Records Viewer.
NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages.
Ralston, Basil, “My Ten Years in Weston, 1926-1936”, 1989, Bob James, Tighes Hill.
Ryerson Index, https://www.ryersonindex.org.
Singh, Supriya, “The Bankers: Australia’s leading bankers talk about banking today”, 1991, Allen & Unwin, North Sydney.
Ward, Russell, “Australia since the coming of man”, 1987, Macmillan Company of Australia Pty Ltd, South Melbourne.
Weston Public School, “The Weston Warbler”, November 1991, Vol 2, No 2.
Wikipedia, “Commonwealth Bank”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Bank.
Wikipedia, “Banking In Australia”, After Federation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_in_Australia#After_federation.
Acknowledgements
Valuable assistance and historical source materials were kindly provided by Mr Steven Politzer, Group Archivist, Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Archives, Eveleigh, NSW. Mrs Julie Frame Falk and Ms Lisa Williams kindly allowed reproduction of their original images. Research assistance was also provided by the Society of Australian Genealogists, the Royal Australian Historical Society, and Newcastle Region Library.
Notes
1 Commissioners of the Rural Bank of New South Wales, page 21.
2 Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, Sat 25 Jun 1904, pages 4 and 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138242671 and http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138248806.
3 Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, Mon 25 Mar 1907, page 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136613961.
4 Falk.
5 Singh, chronology, page 7.
6 Clark, page 181.
7 Wikipedia, “Commonwealth Bank”.
8 Ward, page 162.
9 Commissioners of the Rural Bank of New South Wales, page 22.
10 Wikipedia, “Commonwealth Bank”.
11 Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Archives, A0023, S0009, 1BP-2-645-[1-5], Weston, NSW - Property Files and Photographs, 1945-65.
12 Ancestry.com.au; NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages.
13 NSW Land Titles Office, Historical Land Records Viewer, Vol 1965 Folio 214.
14 Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder, Fri 18 Jan 1946, page 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100027583.
15 Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Archives, A0023, S0009, 1BP-2-645-[1-5], Weston, NSW - Property Files and Photographs, 1945-65.
16 Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Archives, A0023, S0009, 1BP-2-645-[1-5], Weston, NSW - Property Files and Photographs, 1945-65.
17 NSW Land Titles Office, Historical Land Records Viewer, Book 902 No 44, Book 1477 No 626, Bk 2080 No 27; Ancestry.com.au.
18 Ralston, Chapter 2. Note that Aberdare Street is now Cessnock Road.
19 Wikipedia, “Commonwealth Bank”; Singh, chronology, page 13.
20 Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Archives, A0023, S0009, 1BP-2-645-[1-5], Weston, NSW - Property Files and Photographs, 1945-65.
21 Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Archives, A0050, S0270, 1ST-23-2-53, Bank Notes, July 1964, Series 2, Volume 5, No. 7, Pg. 3.
22 Wikipedia, “Commonwealth Bank”; Singh, chronology, page 14.
23 Wikipedia, “Banking in Australia”, After Federation; Singh, chronology, page 14.
24 Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Archives, A0050, S0270, 1ST-23-2-53, Bank Notes, July 1964, Series 2, Volume 5, No. 7, Pg. 3.
25 NSW Land Titles, DP 712222.
26 Wikipedia, “Banking in Australia”, After Federation.
27 Wikipedia, “Commonwealth Bank”.
28 Wikipedia, “Commonwealth Bank”.
29 Weston Public School, “The Weston Warbler”, p 14.
30 Wikipedia, “Banking in Australia”, After Federation.
31 Newcastle Herald, 22 Jan 1994, p 8.
32 Falk.
33 Onthehouse.com.au.
34 Propertyvalue.com.au.
35 Falk.
36 Wikipedia, “Banking in Australia”, After Federation.
37 The late aunt and father of the author.
38 Wikipedia, “Banking in Australia”, After Federation.
