My column this week continues on from last week’s article. This week’s photo shows the Bank of New South Wales on the corner of George and Russell streets in Bathurst where the Western Advocate has its office today. It was here that the first of Bathurst’s superscribed bank notes were received in early 1911.
Large registers were kept by the Commonwealth Treasury on all the notes superscribed and superscribed numbers were assigned in batches to the various banks.
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The first known superscribed note to arrive in Bathurst was in late December 1910 and was brought up from Sydney.
The Bank of New South Wales seen with this article was built within two years of arrival in town on September 8, 1856.
Dr William Hall Palmer, the local police magistrate, became a director at Bathurst, along with John McPhillamy of “Mount Tamar”, both receiving a guinea (£1/1/0) a week remuneration.
The Bank of New South Wales opened in Sydney after Governor Lachlan Macquarie granted it a seven-year Charter of Incorporation in April 1817.
The two-storey brick building, designed by Edmund Blacket, cost £10,400. It comprised the Bank Chambers, Manager’s Room, Strong Room, manager’s accommodation of nine rooms, kitchen, pantry and ‘all conveniences’ with the basement containing five rooms.
The various bank’s notes in circulation dramatically increased as the banks purchased the diggers’ gold.
Also, for convenience and security, most of the prospectors preferred to carry the lighter bank notes.
The bank notes for each bank were initially designed and printed in England by Perkins, Bacon and Company, though Bradbury Wilkinson later printed new anti-forgery bank notes after the private banks had received a scare.
Around 1870, a Melbourne note printing company, Sands and McDougall, was engaged to do some, if not all, the various banks’ printing.
Many of those Australians still alive at Federation could recall how the banks had treated many of their customers in the 1890s. All the banks were in crisis, including the Bank of New South Wales and the London Bank of Australia Limited.
From May 1891 to late 1893, the nation was in strife, brought on by a major depression due to problems with domestic private building and pastoral investment. Banks closed their doors, some for over 100 days. Some reopened, some just folded up, so Australians were keen not to see this happen again.
As the Commonwealth Government brought in the Australian Notes Bill, the London Bank of Australia Limited was one of the first banks to be informed by the Acting Treasurer of the Commonwealth, Mr Frazer, on December 1, 1910, that its unused bank note forms would be used.
Ironically, this bank was also just one of three selected to have extra private bank note forms printed in London and shipped out to Melbourne.
The Secretary of the Treasury, George T. Allen, sent a coded message to London to Australia’s High Commissioner requesting further forms as late as 1913 and 1914, thus making this bank’s superscribed notes one of the most common.
As politicians kept up the chatter, the printing of the emergency issue notes went on in Melbourne until 1914. Our new uniquely designed Australian notes began appearing in 1913.
As more of the new Commonwealth issues appeared, Australians were advised to bring in the superscribed notes for exchange.
The London Bank of Australia Limited attempted to buy out The City Bank of Sydney in 1916, but was unsuccessful.
The London Bank of Australia Limited was merged with the English, Scottish and Australian Bank Ltd in 1921.