Not to be confused with National Bank of Australasia.
Bank of Australasia
Company type
Bank
Industry
financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding
Founded
1834
Defunct
1951
Fate
Merged with the Union Bank of Australia to form the Australia and New Zealand Bank
Headquarters
Melbourne, Victoria
Area served
Australia
The Bank of Australasia was an Australian bank in operation from 1835 to 1951.[1]
Headquartered in London, the bank was incorporated by royal charter in March 1834. It had initially been planned to additionally include first South Africa and then Ceylon in the bank's operations; however, both these moves were blocked by the Lords of the Treasury. Its first branch opened in Sydney on 14 December 1835, followed by branches in Hobart and Launceston on 1 January 1836, in the latter city by taking over the former Cornwall Bank. A Melbourne branch opened on 28 August 1838[2] and an Adelaide branch on 14 January 1839. It opened a Perth branch in May 1841 when it absorbed the original Bank of Western Australia; however, the branch was closed in 1844 and the bank would not reopen in that city until 1894. It suffered financial difficulties during the 1840s depression, in part because of a controversial loan to the failing Bank of Australia which resulted in significant litigation.[3][4][5]
Having opened a Geelong branch in 1846, it rapidly expanded throughout Victoria during the Victorian gold rush, with branches in Ballarat, Castlemaine, Williamstown, Portland, Warrnambool and Port Fairy opening in 1853-54 and Bendigo and Beechworth branches soon after.[6] It decided upon a New Zealand expansion in 1863, opening in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin in 1864 and Wellington in 1866.[3][7] A grand headquarters was built on Collins Street in the heart of Melbourne's financial district in 1875–76. The bank survived the Australian banking crisis of 1893, which resulted in the collapse of a number of its competitors.[5] Its reopening in Western Australia following the discovery of gold in 1893 saw branches in Fremantle, Coolgardie and Cue in 1894 and Menzies and Kalgoorlie in 1895.[8]
It merged with the Union Bank of Australia to form the Australia and New Zealand Bank on 1 October 1951.[9]
^"Bank of Australasia (1835 - 1951)". Guide to Australian Business Records. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
^Boys, Robert Douglas (1959), First years at Port Phillip 1834-1842, Melbourne, Robertson & Mullins, p.83
^ ab"THE BANK OF AUSTRALASIA". Traralgon Record. No. 330. Victoria, Australia. 8 May 1888. p. 3 (morning.). Retrieved 25 November 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"BANK OF AUSTRALASIA". Leader. Victoria, Australia. 1 January 1901. p. 74. Retrieved 25 November 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ab"Pioneers of Finance". The Critic. South Australia. 13 May 1908. p. 5. Retrieved 25 November 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"THE BANKING AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF AUSTRALASIA". Devon Herald. Vol. X, no. 2065. Tasmania, Australia. 13 November 1888. p. 3. Retrieved 25 November 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"BANKS' MERCER". The Beverley Times. Vol. 45, no. 2556. Western Australia. 12 October 1951. p. 6. Retrieved 25 November 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"The Bank of Australasia in Western Australia". Sterling and Currency. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
^"TWO BANKS IN MERGER". The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser. Vol. 84, no. 151. New South Wales, Australia. 4 October 1951. p. 6. Retrieved 25 November 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
and 22 Related for: Bank of Australasia information
The BankofAustralasia was an Australian bank in operation from 1835 to 1951. Headquartered in London, the bank was incorporated by royal charter in March...
National BankofAustralasia was a bank based in Melbourne. It was established in 1857, and in 1982 merged with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney...
The former BankofAustralasia Headquarters is an historic bank headquarters in Renaissance Revival style located on the corner of Queen Street and Collins...
Zealand. It merged with the BankofAustralasia to form the Australia and New Zealand Bank Limited in 1951. A number of the bank's former branches are now...
The Colonial BankofAustralasia was a bank operating primarily in the Australian colony and then state of Victoria from 1856 to 1918. It commenced operation...
name ofAustralasiaBank. It was renamed to Allied Bankof Pakistan, from AustralasiaBank Limited in 1974, and Sarhad Bank Ltd, Lahore Commercial Bank Ltd...
Australia Bank was formed as National Commercial Banking Corporation of Australia Limited in 1982 by the merger of National BankofAustralasia and the...
This list of the oldest banks in World includes financial institutions in continuous operation, operating with the same legal identity without interruption...
financial crisis of 1866". Queensland History. Retrieved 18 July 2018. Source: S. J. Butlin. Australia and New Zealand Bank: The BankofAustralasia and the Union...
heart" of Sydney. As home to the Reserve Bankof Australia, the Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank, Westpac and other corporations, it is also a centre of business...
list of financial institutions in Malaysia. Bank Negara Malaysia (The Central Bankof Malaysia) Affin Bank Alliance Bank AmBank CIMB Hong Leong Bank Maybank...
Colonial Bank may refer to: Colonial Bank (United States) Colonial Bank (West Indies) Colonial BankofAustralasia Colonial Bankof Issue Colonial Bankof New...
Riverstone General Store and Jack Greentree's garage which became the "BankofAustralasia". On 29 November 1970 the Village was officially declared open by...
1864, BankofAustralasia, another London-based bank, opened branches in Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch. In 1951, UBA and the BankofAustralasia merged...
National Australia Bank. In 1835 a London-based bank called the BankofAustralasia was formed that would eventually become the ANZ Bank. In 1951, it merged...
including the BankofAustralasia (1835), the Union Bankof Australia (1837), and the English, Scottish and Australian Bank (1852). The discovery of gold in...
1887 and the former BankofAustralasia built in 1905 are sightworthy historic buildings as well. The Australian Joint Stock Bank (1887–88), the Townsville...
Adelaide (1926) Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (1896) His Majesty's Theatre, Perth (1904) Former BankofAustralasia, Sydney (1904) ASN Co building...
Blackall National BankofAustralasia, Home Hill National BankofAustralasia, Cairns National BankofAustralasia, Stanthorpe Commercial Bankof Australia,...
January 1990. Euroa contains a number of heritage-listed sites, including: 1 Binney Street: National BankofAustralasia Building 90 Binney Street: Euroa Post...
Exchange (ASX). BSP traces its history to 1 May 1957, when the National BankofAustralasia established a branch in Port Moresby. As independence approached...