18 JUNE 1995: RICHARD RAXWORTHY TALKING TO ANTON (TONY) SIEMER
I will ask you Mr Siemer where were you born and when?
TS: May 1920 in Cologne.
What is your full name?
TS: Anton Ernst. I grew up in Cologne. As a matter of fact in Bruehl. Bruehl is between Cologne and Bonn. Bruehl became famous because of Steffi Graf, the tennis player. I grew up there, I went to school in Bruehl and I did my apprenticeship in Bruehl also.
What school did you go to?
TS: A Catholic boys’ school.
Did you go right through the Catholic school or did you go on to State afterwards?
TS: Hitler came in 1933 and my schooling was finished in 1934, so I stayed in the system.
Where did you go to work first?
TS: Ranke Werke, a big company manufacturing white goods, like refrigerators, washing machines and that type of thing.
Were you an apprentice?
TS: I was an apprentice and I was very lucky to get an apprenticeship at that time, in 1934.
Did you continue to work there or did you have to go into the army?
TS: I continued to work there for another six months and I had booked for the Engineering School in Cologne and that was a period of four years. I decided to do my national service first and then go to the Engineering School and of course I got caught up.
So where did you end up?
TS: Anywhere in Europe. First in France in 1940. Then mainly Russia. Went through a lot of the War in Russia.
After the War?
TS: After the War I was lucky, my wife’s uncle had a connection to the Electricity Commission in Hamburg and he got a job for me there. I became a fitter and turner in the electricity works in Hamburg.
When did you come to Australia?
TS: 1952. The idea came from my wife. She came home one day and said, “Tony what do you think about Australia?” I said, “What do you want with Australia?” She had always an idea to migrate, she wanted to go to South Africa, but she came up with Australia. She had a friend at work who received a lot of favourable correspondence from Australia, so I went to the Australian High Commission and asked what the possibilities were to migrate to Australia. It was very positive. At that time Email required tool makers from Germany just came at the right time. I got a contract with Email for two years work and two years accommodation I signed that directly and it went from there on. That was about August and by the end of September we were already on the boat.
What year?
TS: 1952. We arrived in Australia on 6 December in Melbourne.
So you already had a job to go to?
TS: Yes I had a job. That was good because there were a lot of shovellers on the wharf telling us to go home, there was already too much unemployment. We didn’t have to worry about that.
So were you involved with Union first?
TS: I joined the Metalworkers’ Union and became actively involved too.
What as?
TS: I became a Delegate to the Combined Unions of Email and later became a Shop Steward in the toolroom.
Had you been active in the Union Movement in Germany?
TS: I had. Straight after the War I was active in I.G.Metal, one of the biggest Unions in Germany. I had Union activities and I continued to do that here in Australia.
Were you working in Sydney at that time?
TS: No, straight away we came to Email, Orange. I joined the Labor Party also very soon and in 1964 I was a delegate to attend the June Conference of the ALP in Sydney. Fortunately enough I detected a little table out there having material from credit unions. I went to that table and picked a few brochures up and took it to the Conference Room and instead of following the Conference I studied the brochures. After the next session I went back to that table to get a bit more information and I met Stan Arneil.
Had you heard about credit unions in Germany?
TS: Oh yes. Credit unions were well-established before the Hitler time, but they came back very quickly again when Hitler was gone.
Had you been involved in a credit union or the running of a credit union in Germany?
TS: No, I wasn’t even a member. No I wasn’t involved at all.
What made you pick it up here?
TS: Because of the idea. Orange at that time had a lot of migrants and I thought the migrant population would be bond enough to establish a credit union. Then of course I gave it a second thought, most of the migrants worked at Email anyway, so I thought it should be established at the Email plant. At the time I was an Alderman on Orange City Council and I put to the Mayor of the time to organise a public meeting to have this idea of credit unions put to the public. It was well attended. A lot of organisations attended that public meeting. Of course there was no feed-back and follow-up from that, so it sort of finished up there. I was very discouraged, but I carried on .
Who was the Mayor at that time?
TS: Ron Hill he was the Mayor. He was the headmaster of Calare School. He was very favourable to the idea but the result of the public meeting was not satisfactory.
So how did you go from there?
TS: Then I put it to the Good Neighbour Council, I was the President at the time, and the Good Neighbour Council agreed with me that it would be more sensible to form that credit union at the plant than for the migrant population. So I started to talk with people at the plant. I had to get a few people interested enough to take on Directorships. Everyday I spent my morning tea-times talking to workers in the plant in different departments. I hardly had any morning tea any more. I talked about the credit union everywhere. I even missed my dinner. I had a bit of hostility at the maintenance shop, in particular one person, and he condemned me for putting that idea to the workers, because there was money involved. There had to be a big trust when you handle money, but I had that all taken into consideration and that was the reason why I took it up.
I notice the other people who were involved from the start, how did you pick them out, or did they find you so to speak?
TS: No, I had to pick them out. I picked out five who held the positions of Superintenden at the plant, they also approved the idea. The rest required came from the Toolroom, who backed me all the way. We had seventy workers in the Toolroom and that gave me the backing I needed. Then I went to the different Superintendents, because the Superintendents had the privilege of moving freely around and talking with the workers and that was a benefit for us. One worker couldn’t talk to another, but the Superintendent could. If you look at the list you will find the first ones were quite a few Superintendents. All these people were in charge of people.
Which ones were in charge of which?
TS: Well they were the bosses of certain sections.
Which sections?
TS: Paint Shop, Pat Egan was somewhere, Bruce Peters was a boss. That helped me a little bit. When the date was set to put it to the people to establish our credit union we organised it for 10 December. We had it in the canteen. Quite a few people were there, I would say about fifty people were in the canteen and that was sufficient to get a motion carried.
Did you have anybody come up from the League?
TS: Yes Stan was there. My good friend Stan Arneil. He never let me down.
Anybody else?
TS: No, only him. He was expert enough, he had all the expertise.
Did he bring paperwork and all that sort of thing?
TS: Yes Stan had it with him, the fundamental paperwork which we needed to kick it off. The resolution was carried unanimously, no speakers against it at all.
What about the name, how did you hit upon the name?
TS: Well we had to put Email in, so we called Email Employees’ Credit Union.
Did you get permission from the management?
TS: Yes prior to that meeting I went to management and talked with them. They were in favour and supported me, they were supportive all the way from then on.
Who was that who you went to speak to?
TS: Frank Hoy, he was Personnel Manager. He was very helpful. Probably you will find out later on they came to the party with payroll deductions and help.
Straight away?
TS: No, but very soon afterwards. They allowed us to have a little office at the plant.
Whereabouts?
TS: In the plant itself, close to the canteen. We had to spend money to renovate and rebuild it a bit, it was a verandah, open verandah. Bert Holmes was outstanding in helping with the building and that worked pretty good.
So it was mainly Frank Hoy the Personnel Manager who helped, but what about the General Manager?
TS: The General Manager was very supportive too, but I had no dealings with him.
When you had this first meeting, foundation meeting on 10 December, was it decided who was going to be Directors and who was going to be Chairman?
TS: Yes we had a meeting very soon after, but the first 9 Directors were elected at the Foundation Meeting
Who decided who was going to be Chairman?
TS: The first meeting of the Board.
Who decided who was going to be Directors?
TS: The Foundation Meeting.
Did you pick them out or not?
TS: Yes we had nine.
You have a meeting like that, somebody has to put them up, so who put them up?
TS: We had nine Directors already organised, and the Directors themselves elected the Chairman.
The Secretary and the Treasurer I have down here. The Secretary was Mrs Bolot and the Treasurer as N G Sykes. What was his first name?
TS: Norm Sykes, I know his brother Lance. Norm Sykes was Treasurer for quite a while.
He was your only Treasurer, after that it was Secretary-Manager.
TS: Yes, professional man after that. At that time we didn’t have any employees.
So what was his job at the factory?
TS: He was in the engineering design section.
Had he any experience as a Treasurer?
TS: No he had none. None of us had experience so we all had to learn as we went along.
What about the Secretary, Mrs Bolot?
TS: She was not paid either in the beginning. Mrs Sheldrake was the first paid Secretary.
Was she Scottish, because her first name was Ailsa?
TS: I think so. Of course in the beginning, especially the first six months, everything had to be done by voluntary workers. Most of the work was done, and a lot of people might not agree with me, by the Toolroom. We sat there in the lunch-hour, worked out letters, new membership, the loan applications, it all was done by the Toolroom. Later on it was taken against me because I was representing the Toolroom and they called it the Toolroom Credit Union and that was my downfall at a later stage. Nevertheless due to the Toolroom the credit union grew. Eighty per cent of the first members in the first six months were all tool makers.
You had 122 in the first year.
TS: Yes 122 in the first year, 265 in the second year, when the Annual Meeting took place and I got beaten as Chairman.
After two years.
TS: Yes.
Why, do you know?
TS: Yes I know. Because certain Directors saw fit to combine against me because of Toolroom involvement. My own boss, who had the balance of power, his vote was the deciding one on that Annual Meeting, told me I was sure of the Chairmanship on that night, and he voted on that night against me. So by vote Pat Egan won.
Who was it who voted against you?
TS: Bruce Peters.
What was he?
TS: Foreman in the Toolroom.
He voted for Pat Egan?
TS: Yes. I don’t know what Pat Egan had organised.
Did you stay on the Board then?
TS: I stayed on the Board for another year and the next year I got voted out. I did not voluntarily retire from the credit union, I was voted out at an Annual Meeting as a Director.
Did you stand after that?
TS: No, never again. Mostly my ambition was to organise something new. If it works well I lose a bit of interest.
When the credit union was started you say that the Toolroom used to organise it, so when did you have Credit Committee meetings?
TS: At the plant in lunch-hour time.
The whole Board, or just two or three Directors?
TS: No, the Loan Committee.
How many, three?
TS: Yes three. I remember very well that the first big investor in the credit union was a fellow by the name of Max Fricke. He came with 500 pounds and that helped us to give out the first loan. We gave 400 pounds to Charlie Radford, he needed it very badly. The principle of the credit union was established with that first loan and he always appreciated it.
Can you remember what he needed it for?
TS: Yes for the improvement of his house. It was very urgent that he did that work at his house.
Did you feel that there was an economic need for the credit union in amongst the people at work?
TS: I would say yes. I would say the need was probably greater than today. The banks were very hard to get on with, with loans you had to have so many guarantees and guarantors and it was hard to handle the banks at that time. So the credit union was well appreciated.
Were there any loan shark companies in Orange at that time?
TS: Money-lenders, yes, we had plenty of them.
Did they get around the factory at all?
TS: No, not to my knowledge.
Were there any clubs that used to charge exorbitant interest at the factory?
TS: No.
Was there a Waltons here?
TS: Yes we had Waltons. They gave easy money, if you shopped there it was so easy to get credit. Later on when you got the paperwork you woke up.
They also used to sell door-to-door to the wives, didn’t they?
TS: Yes. We had personal experience with Waltons on the door, they came to me.
Did they get many garnishees in the Personnel Department?
TS: I think so. In the beginning we had no problems with the credit union, they were loyal and they paid. We had bad debts, but in the first few years it was very negotiable and very little. That way it worked very well.
Who was your Director in the Pay Section when you started? You must have had one to sort of liaise with?
TS: No, we had no-one in the Pay Office.
Did you have to negotiate pay-roll deductions?
TS: Yes. I think after six months we had pay-roll deduction. In any way the company was very supportive on everything we approached them on, or wanted something on. Even in the moving of the office, the first office had to be relocated, they helped us quite a bit because we spent so much money on that first one. They helped us on the second one.
What about methods of accounting?
TS: We had no problem.
Did you start with cards?
TS: Lots of cards and cashbooks. Norm did a good job in that respect. It was a much more personal contact with the members. They had confidence in us, they told us the truth about what they needed money for. There were not secrets, nothing. It worked very well in the beginning.
Did you have many loans for debt consolidation? People who were already in debt to different outfits?
TS: Not at that stage. I think that came later. I think Pat Egan can tell you a few things about that. In the beginning we had no problems there at all.
So people didn’t come to you and say they wanted to borrow some money and you would ask them what debts they had and they would have a whole lot of them?
TS: Yes, but we didn’t have many of them. It was mostly money needed at the present time.
What about gamblers and drinkers?
TS: No, we didn’t have a problem with them either. We knew the members too well. It is not the case any more today of course.
How long was it before they had to have a ledger card machine, can you remember?
TS: No. I think that was after my time, with up to 300 members we could easily handle it in the manual way with volunteers. Later on it was impossible, when it grew to the 500 mark, and 1,000 mark, it was not possible any more. They put professional people in then.
Did you go to any credit union Schools at all?
TS: Ah, yes. Good that you mention that. I enjoyed it very much, a one week seminar at Newport. We had accommodation at Newport Inn Motel the League had booked for a week.
Which year was that?
TS: That was 1965.
That was the year they started AFCUL.
TS: Yes.
They talked about it that year and started it the next year.
TS: I remember that seminar because for the first time in my life I saw a real black fellow from Fiji attending the seminar representing a credit union in Fiji. He was very clever that fellow. He was sitting next to me.
Do you remember his name? I might have been Joane Naisara?
TS: Oh yes, I think that rings a bell. He was very prominent in Fiji.
I am not sure whether he is alive still, but he is not very active in the credit union movement any more. His name was pronounced Johnny, but it was spelt Joane N-a-i-s-a-r-a.
TS: When the seminar was over, and I participated very well, they called me on stage and gave me a medal. The medal was being for the only one using the swimming pool at six o’clock in the morning.
You weren’t racing Dermot Ryan were you?
TS: Yes. Nobody at all in the pool. I had it all for myself. They couldn’t understand it because the water was so cold, but I liked it.
Do you remember the Sydney Credit Union entertainment room? They had Room 19?
TS: Yes. I remember that.
Did you have a few drinks?
TS: Yes. It was very beneficial to me, it really opened my eyes to what a credit union should do. Unfortunately my period on the Board didn’t warrant the expenditure. If I had known they were going to kick me out so quick I wouldn’t have bothered to go.
Did the League sponsor you?
TS: The League sponsored the seminar yes.
Did the credit union have to pay as well?
TS: No, I don’t think so.
Was there anybody else from the credit union to go that year?
TS: Yes Norm Sykes. I think we have got a photograph of Norm and me on the desk.
I think I have got a photograph of that seminar, the whole group of them I think.
TS: Probably eighty, something like that.
Stan Arneil is there.
TS: Yes.
So is Father Ganey, do you remember him?
TS: Yes Father Ganey, I remember him.
What about the ones from the insurance company, Carlos Matos?
TS: CUNA Mutual, yes they were there. I think they shared the cost of the seminar, the League and the International.
Stan Arneil became their Manager. He later became Manager of the insurance company.
TS: Did he?
That caused trouble and there was a split over it.
TS: That was not known to me. I admired Stan. His life was the credit union.
What about insurance when you first started?
TS: Oh yes we had insurance against bad debts. Anybody who borrowed from the credit union and perhaps would die, the debt would die with them.
Loan protection insurance?
TS: Loan protection, we paid into that, yes. We paid into the New South Wales Reserve, to protect the lenders.
It was called the Stabilisation or Protection Fund at first.
TS: That is correct. We had a lot of activities at homes too, I think that should be mentioned, by the different Directors, of the time to run the credit union business. At the plant you couldn’t do all these things, so we had meetings at the different homes of the Directors. That worked out very well. We had no direct meeting place, like they have today, at that time.
When you did meet at the plant for Directors’ meetings, where did you meet?
TS: I think in the canteen, but I could be wrong, it could have been in the Board Room.
End Tape 1A: 3571 Words: 1 hour 10 minutes
18 JUNE 1995: RICHARD RAXWORTHY TALKING TO ANTON (TONY) SIEMER
What about a Publicity Committee or just a Publicity Officer?
TS: We had a Publicity Officer who was also the Chairman. He had very good contact with the press and the press was very supportive. They wrote anything I wanted them to write. At this stage I would like to thank the Central Western Daily for helping us get the message across to the public.
Did you have a newsletter or a bulletin for the credit union?
TS: Only a little bit later a typed sheet where we indicated who had received loans and money incoming, more or less a little balance sheet. That was all we had.
How about at Email was there a newsletter there?
TS: Not at this stage.
A Union newsletter?
TS: No.
So you actually used the local paper?
TS: More or less yes, the Central Western Daily, they interviewed me a few times at the credit union, that was helpful too.
You didn’t appoint a Publicity Officer until after you had retired from the Board?
TS: In my time we had no Publicity Officer. Mrs Sheldrake later on took that over and got publicity from the local paper.
In 1967 and 1986, you have got Norm Binns there, I think, as the Publicity Officer.
TS: That was after me. I think in 1967 they appointed a Publicity Officer.
What about material from the League?
TS: Material from the League we received regularly, from Sydney. But that was not so much helping us in running the credit union, it was only the news of what happened at the League, mainly of Sydney and later on Victoria. Not very helpful for us.
Did a Field Officer come up from the League? John Porter?
TS: Yes he did. They kept a close eye on our operations to see that we didn’t go astray. We welcomed that because in the beginning you make mistakes and they were always quickly detected and corrected.
Was John Porter at the foundation meeting?
TS: No he was not. He got in touch with us very soon afterwards.
Just Stan Arneil alone came up from Sydney?
TS: Yes Stan came a few times, but he was quite happy with the way we operated so there were no problems.
What about the Inspector from the Registrar’s Office?
TS: No we didn’t get him, not that I can recall. Only visits from the League.
Was there a Chapter formed in this area in those days?
TS: No we had no Chapter at this stage. We knew about the establishment of Chapters in the Sydney area.
Did you go to an Annual Meeting at the Credit Union League at all?
TS: No I did not. We had no representative at that time. Later on I believe somebody was elected to represent Orange at Annual Meetings.
When you were off the Board but still a member, you must have been able to follow the progress of the credit union?
TS: I can say that, yes. Over the thirty years the Credit Union has been running I have always kept a very close eye on it.
Do you attend Annual Meetings?
TS: I went to every Annual Meeting.
Did you ask any questions?
TS: I did. I had certain recommendations which were sometimes adopted and they realised they were helpful.
What about the operations of the Supervisory Committee?
TS: I think it worked very well. In my time we didn’t need a Supervisory Committee because everybody supervised each other, we ran pretty smoothly.
I notice that you appointed an internal auditor fairly quickly?
TS: We did. That was the law, we had to do that. We had an auditor right from the beginning.
That is an external auditor. You didn’t at that time have to have an internal auditor.
TS: No we did not, but we did later on, yes. But that made it easier on the external auditor.
Probably made it cheaper for the auditing.
TS: Yes a lot cheaper because everything was properly written and it made it easier.
So you must have been aware there was a credit union Chapter going in the area?
TS: I was aware of that.
Did you ever attend any meetings?
TS: No, I did not.
Can remember some of the questions or recommendations you had when you were out of office, that you brought up at Annual Meetings?
TS: Yes. I think I always participated actively at Annual Meetings. Sometimes my recommendations were not adopted, sometimes they were. I had to convince nine other Directors that my idea was good.
Did you ever receive a Founder’s Pin, Founder’s Badge, from the American CUNA International?
TS: Yes I did. I donated that to Phillip Nokes, presented it to the credit union.
That is interesting. When did you get that?
TS: 1965. Phillip Nokes had never seen one in his life.
So you got that at Newport, did you?
TS: Yes I got it at Newport.
Is that the year that the Polish Credit Union started as Newport?
TS: No that was shortly afterwards so far as I remember. It was not operating then.
In Queensland there is a Dutch credit union as well.
TS: I didn’t know that either.
They started with a building society I understand, but it was actually financed by the Dutch Government.
TS: I had no knowledge of that. I only know that the Orange one, and shortly afterwards the Dubbo or Bathurst, were the first credit unions west of the mountains. There was no credit union anywhere here until 1964.
You were the earliest, I think.
TS: Yes we were the first.
Then of course the Calare came in.
TS: Yes. I was on the Hospital Board to help them along to form a credit union at the hospital, Orange Base Hospital.
When was this?
TS: 1971, or 1972, I could be corrected on that one. I remember there was a Board of Directors at the hospital who were prepared to form a credit union, so I immediately helped them along.
I have got it down here. Orange Base Hospital Staff Credit Union Limited, 1969 registered. There was one before that too, the Postal Employees’ Credit Union in 1968.
TS: I was not involved in that one.
That was the one that came into this one as the Orange Commonwealth Employees’ Credit Union.
TS: That is correct.
That was started in 1970 and it came in, in 1982.
TS: Yes they were all formed by the few and later on they all amalgamated with the original credit union, you know.
The Base Hospital one, you were still active with this credit union when you went over to help them start that?
TS: Only externally, not internally.
So you went to the formation meeting, did you?
TS: Yes.
Did Stan Arneil come, or somebody else?
TS: Stan was not there, but somebody else was there.
What about John Porter?
TS: Yes I think John Porter was there. The hospital one was very easy to establish. The people knew about credit unions. It was no big thing, it flourished pretty well and quickly.
Whose idea was it, who suggested, that you become a community credit union? That was not during your time really?
TS: No. The first idea was to establish it as an Email Credit Union because of the bond they had, the togetherness, the payroll deductions, all that helped a lot. But the potential had to go outside the plant, because not all people worked at Email and it was a wise decision, it was correct.
Well you tried to start it in the community anyway.
TS: I did yes, but that failed.
Do you remember the date of that first meeting out in the community?
TS: Yes, August 1964, when they called a public meeting.
Where was the meeting?
TS: In the Town Hall, where the Council meets. The representation from the clubs was very good, it was very hopeful that something would come out of that. A lot of clubs were represented at that meeting, but I waited and no feedback, so no results. So I finally put it to the Good Neighbour Council at that time and moved into the plant.
Now is there anything I should have asked you that I haven’t, do you think, probably a million things?
TS: The main details are all recorded. The minor part, how we operated that is history. Credit has to go to all these people who helped us in 1964 to keep it running and get it growing.
The first internal auditor you had was John Williams, where was he? John Williams was the internal auditor originally in 1968, so he is in here as internal auditor.
TS: He worked in the Pay Office. But he was appointed after I had left.
The Supervisory Committee was B Wright, Brian or Barry?
TS: Brian Wright. He was a Superintendent.
Of what?
TS: Production, Preparation Production. The first solicitor we had was Lee Serisier and he did it without charge.
Was he from this town? I have interviewed him through the Parliament.
TS: He was Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council.
He is not down in your reports. He was your first solicitor?
TS: He was our first solicitor because he was a friend of mine. He still is a friend of mine. He did the work for nothing.
What about the auditor?
TS: The auditor had to be paid yes.
Todd and Niven?
TS: Todd and Niven yes. He was very reasonable in his charge too. If I recall correctly it was $800 for the year, to do the books, so that was not unreasonable.
How did you pick the bank?
TS: We had no connection to any bank at that time. That came much later.
You must have had a bank right from the start?
TS: Yes we banked with the Commonwealth.
Why did you move to the National Bank?
TS: That came later. I think the direction came from the League to go with the National Bank.
That was a lot later. I notice in 1967, 1968 here you are already with the National Bank. The 1967/1968 Annual Report you have got the National Bank Orange.
TS: Obviously it was more convenient for us than the Commonwealth Bank because it was on the corner of Maple, it made it much easier for us to bank the money. That was the main reason. At that time we had a lot of little accounts.
If people in the early days wanted withdrawals did they have it by cheque or were cash withdrawals allowed?
TS: No, we wrote cheques, no cash transactions at all, it was not allowed. We wrote cheques. All the stationery was given to us by the League. We got it much cheaper from them and every dollar counted at that time. We had to keep the expenses down.
Was there any change in the interest rates at that time?
TS: No, we kept operating on the same interest rates.
Only one deposit rate, or were there term deposits as well?
TS: No term deposits at that time.
I think it was well into the 1970s before they came in. Family membership was allowed only after the Act in 1970.
TS: Yes. We had no family membership.
When you did have family membership can you remember whether both the husband and the wife were allowed to borrow in their own right, or was there an argument about where only one or the other should be allowed to borrow?
TS: There was no borrowing in their own right, because the wife was only an associated member and had no shares. That came later.
But if they were both employed did they both get loans?
TS: Yes of course they were both employed later on the wife could get a loan.
When you first started were women allowed to be members?
TS: Yes, if they worked at the plant, but no children could join. But at that time we were not short of potential, we had enough potential at the plant itself to get the workers in. Later on it grew too big and we had to go public and get other people in.
Now you said the first office in Email you had was near the canteen. Where was the second office?
TS: The second office was in the other corner of the same building. We were on the eastern side first and then we moved to the western side of the same building. I don’t know what they needed that for, it was completely done, but we went on the other side of the building. We still run an office there now. Same place. Mainly only for the benefit of the plant, we store the wages that are paid into the credit union.
Can you remember who started the push towards turning the credit union towards the community, becoming mutual?
TS: No. As far as I know Phillip Nokes the Manager was the main one.
Was he the Manager at that time, I don’t think he was. 1973 it became a mutual. He became Manager in 1976. Peter Collins was the first Manager.
TS: We already had an office in Lords Place.
I haven’t got that date yet, I have still got to get it from the Annual Reports. We have got 225-227 Lloyds Place, and there is another address in Lords Place somewhere, but I don’t know where that is. At one time they had an office in Anson Street and I don’t know where that is either. I will get that out of the Annual Reports.
TS: Once the decision was made to become a mutual it really ran into big business. If you check the balance sheets over the years, some years went sky-high.
Well I haven’t finished them yet.
TS: Unfortunately the principles under which the credit union operated in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, that personal contact, that has gone. It is big business today but the main principle of giving cheap loans to members is still operating and that is the main thing. The charges on loans is still reasonable and competitive against any bank, much lower.
I notice there in 1975 it was the first year you had a $1.5 million in assets and there were 2,700 members at that time. Whereas in 1967 there was only 411 members and $72,000 only in assets.
TS: That is correct. The membership has even doubled today hasn’t it?
My goodness yes. It has a lot more than doubled.
TS: The foundation of the credit union is still solid and nothing can change that.
Yes they have got in the names of the different offices here. Here is the Email one. I think the Commonwealth Employees amalgamated with Email Credit Union.
TS: Then Telecom behind and there is the Base Hospital. They were the first one to amalgamate.
Here is the growth in membership and the growth in assets.
TS: Yes over the years, nothing sky-high but always bigger and bigger.
Of the foundation members, none of them are on the Board now?
TS: No, there is nobody left. Peter Gray is the new General Manager of Email now. He retired from the Board. That is the most senior one, Mr Thorpe. He must get a medal for long-service with the credit union, he has got more than twenty years I would say. Tim Sullivan is from the Hospital, he is Superintendent there.
Well you can think of anything else I should ask?
TS: No. I think we have done very well in the thirty years we have been operating and hopefully it will continue for a long time to come, long after I have gone.
You have been involved in many other activities in the town can you tell me some of those?
TS: Oh yes I didn’t mind at all when they sacked me from the Board because I was involved in many things.
How long?
TS: Three terms.
How many years?
TS: Nine. Twenty-one years on the Orange Base Hospital Board. The main activity was the Trade Union Movement and I was Secretary of the Orange Trades and Labour Council for sixteen years. I put the Trades and Labour Council on the map as far as Orange is concerned. We had a good relationship with Council and the Chamber of Commerce and other bodies in town. We were very much appreciated by these kind of people.
What about the Labor Party?
TS: Yes I will be celebrating forty years of membership of the Labor Party this year, in October at the State Conference. I have been invited to go to Sydney to receive Life Membership.
Well you have been involved in a lot more than the credit union.
TS: Yes. The first activity was the Good Neighbour Council and I enjoyed that. The work we did there was very much appreciated by a lot of migrants who got into hardship. We were able to help with the assistance of business houses in Orange and all that to get them out of trouble.
Well thank you very much Mr Tony Siemer.
End Tape 1B: 2420 Words: 1 hour 10 minutes