At the Australian Credit Union Convention in 1985 (held in Auckland NZ), time was taken out from speeches, seminars, lunches and dinners to conduct the Australian Credit Union Marketing Awards. In some ways the customer owned banking scene in Australia 30 years ago was closer in spirit to 1955 than today. While many of the products and add-ons of ...

Here is the latest edition of the Archives Newsletter.............

Recently retired Beyond Bank CEO Robert Keogh gave us some time out of his busy schedule in the final weeks of his career. Robert joined Beyond Bank in 1979 when it was known as CPS Credit Union (for Commonwealth Public Service) and became CEO in 2010. He has of course been part of many changes in mutuals over the years and his fascinating inter...

The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History is a non-profit organisation, founded in 1961 to study “the working-class situation … and social history in the fullest sense”. The Society encourages teaching and research in labour history and the preservation of the records of working people and the labour movement. It desires to make hist...

One of our recently digitised films from VHS tape is a special report from the Victorian Credit Cooperative (VCCA) from 1988. The VCCA was the peak body for Victorian credit unions (or credit cooperatives as they were often known in Victoria) from 1966 until 1992 when the credit union movement was federalised. The film (which goes for about 15 min...

Australian customer owned banks are proud of their record of solvency and security with relatively few examples of failure and malfeasance. Rodney Beaton, a recent interview subject in our oral history program, came to the rescue of Administrative and Clerical Officers Co-operative Credit Society (ACOA Credit Society) in Perth in the early 1970s. ...

Today we bring you an important short film held on VHS tape that we recently digitised. The film announces the Credit Union Association of SA’s Members Mortgage Fund in 1987. Geoff Doyle the General Manager of the Credit Union Association of SA is featured explaining the genesis of the $40 million fund: The scheme had been under investigation by S...

  Above: Cartoonist Joe Stern with his creation   The year 2023 is the 100th anniversary of arguably the most famous image in mutuals, “The Little Man Under the Umbrella”. The “Little Man Under the Umbrella” was created for CUNA (the Credit Union National Association) in the US and trademarked around the world as a symbol of the credit union mo...

We hold a collection of over 600 films that come in all sorts of formats and cover many topics – including mutual TV advertisements. One of the 30 films on VHS video we recently digitised was this one produced by Calare Credit Union in 1996 promoting their car loan product. Car loans have historically been an important product for credit unions ...