In a recent blog post we related that we came across some great collections while working through our backlog. Well, it has happened again, with a re-discovery of a collection of important records from Premier Credit Union.
Along with some promotional material and the 1975 Annual Report of Para Credit Union, an organisation that was absorbed by what became Premier Credit Union in 1977, the cache of records includes a prepared history of Premier Credit Union by an unnamed author and some foundation documents and certificates. These include certificates registering name changes the credit union went through over the years and a Certificate of Change of Agent under the Victorian Co-operation Act from 1987.
The organisation’s genesis was in the Concord Repatriation General Hospital. The first paragraph of the history reads,
“In early August 1958 the Grace Building Committee of the Administrative and Clerical Officers Association called a meeting of the Grace Building Staff to expand the Credit Union philosophy and to ascertain if the staff were interested in the establishment of such an organisation. The meeting decided that steps should be taken to establish a credit union within the Repatriation Department.”
The Repatriation Department Credit Union Co-operative Limited made its first loan for 50 pounds on the 10th of September 1958. In 1961, “membership was extended to the Staff of Repatriation General Hospital Concord and Repatriation Artificial Limb and Appliance Centre and Local Committees were formed to service these areas”.
Over the next 20 years the credit union was involved in a number of mergers, with the end result being that, “in 1984, to reflect our increasingly broader field of endeavour the credit union’s name was changed to Premier Credit Union”. Trading under the name Premier Credit Union lasted till only 1991 when a merger with Communication Credit Union caused the name to be changed to Endeavour Credit Union Limited. Memberships held with Premier Credit Union still active today are administered by Great Southern Bank.
