The Life and Times of Tom Kelly
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The Life and Times of Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly was a co-founder of Australian Mutuals Archives in 1985 and a credit union stalwart. In 2004 our forerunners published a small booklet called “The Life and Times of Tom Kelly”. It was released primarily for distribution at the 2004 Australian Institute of Credit Union Management (AICUM) Conference in Albury.

The booklet is one several publications we have produced over the years and we’re putting it online now as Tom’s story is an important one.  Here are some of his milestones:

  • Thomas Fleming Kelly was born on 1 May 1919
  • He served in Papua New Guinea and Borneo in WWII with the Australian Field Ambulance
  • Joined NSW Government Railways in 1938
  • Tom Kelly joined the Universal Credit Union in 1949 and became Chair in 1957
  • Began work to create a credit union for NSW railway workers in 1961 and he succeeded in forming Railways Staff Credit Union in 1966
  • Became Manager of Railways Staff Credit Union in 1973
  • Was a Director of the NSW Credit Union League
  • Edited the newspaper Credit Union Quest
  • Vice Chair, Co-operative Federation of NSW – 1969-1971
  • Co-founded the Australian Credit Union Historical Co-operative (now Australian Mutuals Archives) and was Secretary-Manager for 18 years.

Tom passed away on 1 March 2009.

Click here to read the booklet.