Dutch Courage

Queensland Community Credit Union was registered in 1965 but became Australian Netherlands Credit Union in 1968 only to revert to Queensland Community Credit Union in 1995. It was begun as a way for the Dutch government to assist their citizens and expatriates in Australia with business finance.

An article from the Dutch Australian Weekly of 8 October 1971, offers insight into the early operations of the credit union. Translated from the original Dutch it says:

 The Australian Netherlands Credit Union in Brisbane was originally set up to help members of the Dutch community in Queensland with short term loans up to $5000. The Australian Netherlands Credit Union – whose correspondence address is GPO Box 1112, Brisbane, Qld, 4001 – provides help for practically all personal matters in need of assistance. The interest on loans is 1% per month or 6.6% ‘flat’.  It follows that a loan at a credit union is much cheaper than at a financing partner society. The difference is about 3%.

Immigration restrictions began to affect the credit union’s link with Dutch Australians in the 1970s and they eventually lost funding from the Dutch government. Ultimately, they had to broaden the bond to the wider community which they did in 1988 before reverting to their original name a few years later.

The credit union operated out of Toowong in Brisbane for 42 years. They remained quite small and managed to fly under the radar. For example, a profile of them in the June 1999 edition of Directions magazine noted that:

Less than a year ago, Queensland Community Credit Union was operating from a grand old Queenslander in suburban Brisbane, without any signage or branding to distinguish it as a business rather than a residence.

The credit union had operated under this camouflage for the last eight years but intended expansion plans required a relocation to office space in a business district.

By this stage, Queensland Community Credit Union had 2000 members, held $9 million in assets, had no branches and just 3 staff. In the Directions piece, CEO Ken Gough said, “We’re virtually a non-cash credit union. Relationships and servicing of members are either done by phone, mail or through the National Australia Bank”.

Another way Queensland Community was able to provide services with few resources was due to their partnership with the Queensland Cooperative Housing Society. The housing society provided the credit union with access to home loans, and the credit union provided housing society members with access to personal loans, car loans, savings and cheque accounts, visa cards and insurance services.

Queensland Community Credit Union merged with Summerland Credit Union (Summerland Bank) in December 2007.