The Co-operative Building Society of SA

Is it generally known that Bendigo Bank has mutual roots? Bendigo Bank is short for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and formed from a merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank. Both Bendigo and Adelaide Banks were former building societies. Adelaide Bank was formed in 1994 from a merger of the Co-operative Building Society of South Australia and Hindmarsh Building Society.

Australian Mutuals Archives holds a copy of Co-operation: The History of The Co-operative Building Society of South Australia 1900-1987 by Anne Fricker. The following is an overview of the book’s contents which are an excellent secondary resource for any researcher of building societies or Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.

The 137-page hardcover book contains many photos and illustrations and has a foreword by former South Australian Premier, John Bannon. Bannon notes that the book begins “in 1900, when few people could afford to buy their home, and progresses to South Australians enjoying one of the highest levels of home ownership in the world”.

Divided into six chapters, the first is centred around Alwin Fisher who was the “founding father” of the building society, according to Fricker. Fisher was a Christian philanthropist and believed that everyone had the right to their own home, not just the prosperous few.

Like every building society, it was created to provide members with the wherewithal to purchase a home. They did this by pooling resources. Getting a building society off the ground is the hardest part. The basis of the Fisher system was to use loans offered by banks, life assurance companies and friendly societies – who loaned about two-thirds of the value of a property-and supplement them with the collective savings of society members.

It was initially a terminating building society whereby loans were paid out by ballot and when your number was picked out, you had your loan. Repayments did not start until a member’s house was ready to live in. At this point the subscription fee for joining the society ceased and loan repayments began.

Chapter Two investigates the Depression years, Chapter Three is “Making a Million, 1934-1953”, then “The Big Quake (& Other Shake-ups), 1954-1968”, followed by “Branching Out, 1969-1979” and finally “The New Financial Era, 1979-1987”.

The author, Anne Fricker, was a librarian and researcher who was employed by the the Co-operative Building Society of South Australia to write the book. She said the most enjoyable part of the project was getting to know the building society staff and receiving their support.