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Bank

Type - Bank
64-66 Pitt Street, Sydney
ANZ Bank
Australian Joint Stock Bank
Bank of Australasia
Bank of Australasia building
Bank of Australia
Bank of New South Wales
City Bank of Sydney
Colonial Mutual Life
Colonial State Bank Centre
Commercial Banking Company of Sydney
Commonwealth Bank
Government Savings Bank of New South Wales
London Bank of Australia Ltd
NSW Savings Bank
National Australia Bank
National Bank of Australasia
Primary Producers Bank of Australia
Reserve Bank of Australia
Reserve Bank of Australia building, 65 Martin Place
Rural Bank of New South Wales
Rural Bank of New South Wales building
Savings Bank of New South Wales
Sydney Banking Company
Union Bank of Australia
Westpac Banking Corporation

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Bank

64-66 Pitt Street, Sydney

Curved building on the corner of Pitt, Hunter and O'Connell Streets in the city that was built by the Fairfax family to house the offices of their newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald and Sydney Mail, in the 1920s, on the site of the former Sydney Morning Herald building. Designed by Manson & Pickering, it was built by Stuart Bros in three stages. The newspaper moved to a new building at Broadway in 1954 and this building was sold to the Bank of New South Wales (later Westpac), when it was known as Wales House. Since the bank sold the property, it has been adapted and used as an office building and a hotel.

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ANZ Bank

Banking business formed by the merger of the Bank of Australasia and the Union Bank of Australia in 1951.

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Australian Joint Stock Bank

Bank formed by a deed of settlement in 1852, and incorporated by an Act of the New South Wales Parliament in 1853.

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Bank of Australasia

Bank formed in London under Royal charter.

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Bank of Australasia building

Bank building at Martin Place on the corner of George Street opposite the General Post Office. Designed in the Federation Romanesque style by American architect Martin E Raht for the Bank of Australasia, the building opened in February 1904. After the bank was merged with the Union Bank of Australia into the Australia and New Zealand Bank, the building operated as one of the ANZ Bank's head offices. In 1980 it was occupied by the United Permanent Society and later became a retail space.

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Bank of Australia

Bank established in 1826 which failed in 1843 as the pastoral boom ended in an economic depression in the early 1840s. In 1828 it was the scene of Australia's first bank robbery, and following its collapse its directors organised Australia's first lottery to dispose of its assets.

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Bank of New South Wales

Australia's oldest bank, established in Sydney in 1817, and still trading as Westpac.

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City Bank of Sydney

Bank which commenced business on 9 February 1863.

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Colonial Mutual Life

Assurance company formed in Melbourne.

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Colonial State Bank Centre

Office block at 52 Martin Place between Elizabeth and Phillip Streets, directly above Martin Place railway station. Built in the 1980s as a new State Bank building on the site of the former Art Deco Rural Bank of New South Wales. Designed by Peddle, Thorp and Walker, it includes a 36 level glass curtained tower and a two storey atrium above a marbled lobby. Ram's head plaques from the earlier building have been re-used at various points around the building. In 2004 television station Channel Seven established a studio on the ground floor of the building.

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Commercial Banking Company of Sydney

Bank established in 1834 and incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1848. It flourished until 1982 when it merged with the National Bank to form the National Australia Bank.

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Commonwealth Bank

Bank founded under the Commonwealth Bank Act in 1911 which today offers a full range of financial services. In 1959 the Reserve Bank Act of 1959 separated the central banking role of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia from its commercial functions.

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Government Savings Bank of New South Wales

Bank incorporated in New South Wales in 1907 to absorb the banks established through the Post Office in 1871.

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London Bank of Australia Ltd

Successor to the London Chartered Bank of Australia which failed in 1893. Absorbed by the English Scottish & Australian Bank in 1921, now ANZ Bank.

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NSW Savings Bank

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Public bank set up by government regulation in 1819 to encourage saving by 'the industrious poor' and convicts who often bought small sums with them when transported. Overseen by the Governor, one of the founders was the merchant Robert Campbell, senior, who operated the Sydney branch from his offices on lower George Street in Circular Quay, and it was often referred to as 'Campbell's Bank'. Three other branches were established at the same time, one at Parramatta, run by Hannibal Macarthur, another at Windsor, run by William Cox, junior, and one at Liverpool, run by Thomas Moore, but these had closed by the early 1820s.

Following the Bigge's report in 1822, convicts were compelled to deposit any funds they had in the bank until 'their condition was improved by their good behaviour, testified by their masters’. In 1832 these deposits were transferred to the Savings Bank of New South Wales that was formed to take over 'Campbell's bank'.

National Australia Bank

Bank formed by the merger of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney and the National Bank of Australasia in 1982. By a series of mergers and acquisitions it has become one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia.

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National Bank of Australasia

Bank formed in Melbourne in 1858 that had branches in Sydney and around Australia. In 1982 it merged with the Commercial Banking Company to form the National Bank of Australia.

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Primary Producers Bank of Australia

A mutual bank and financial institution for rural producers.

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Reserve Bank of Australia

Australia's central bank, formed by the Reserve Bank Act of 1959 that separated the central banking role of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia from its commercial functions. The bank commenced operations in January 1960 under its first Governor, Dr HC Coombs.

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Reserve Bank of Australia building, 65 Martin Place

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Purpose built head office of the Reserve Bank of Australia on the southern corner of Martin Place and Macquarie Street. Designed in 1959 by the Commonwealth Department of Works in the post war International Style for the newly created Reserve Bank, it was constructed between 1961 and 1964.

Rural Bank of New South Wales

Bank established by the New South Wales government in 1933, primarily to serve farmers and rural inhabitants of the state. In late 1981 it became the State Bank of New South Wales, and was then sold in 1994 to Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited, before being acquired by the Commonwealth Government in 2000.

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Rural Bank of New South Wales building

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Moderne bank building constructed in 1936 at 52 Martin Place for the Rural Bank of New South Wales. It was demolished in 1983 despite public outrage to make way for a new State Bank tower.

Savings Bank of New South Wales

Bank established to administer convict monies and take deposits from the emerging working classes, providing security and interest on deposits.

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Sydney Banking Company

Bank established in Sydney about 1839.

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Union Bank of Australia

Bank formed in 1837 and merged with the Bank of Australasia in 1951 to become the Australia and New Zealand Bank.

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Westpac Banking Corporation

Banking corporation formed in October 1982 when the Bank of New South Wales acquired the Commercial Bank of Australia.

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