In August 1969, a steering committee was formed by workers at the Electrolytic Zinc Company in Risdon Tasmania in order to form a credit union. In November of that year the inaugural meeting of the Risdon Credit Union Co-operative Society was held. It traded under the Risdon banner until 1979 when it became The Credit Union of Tasmania and it transferred engagements to Island State Credit Union in 1986 which is alas, no longer with us.
Our collection of the Australian Federation of Credit Union League’s (AFCUL) Australian Credit Unions Magazine contains a number of articles on the progress of the credit union during the years it traded as The Credit Union of Tasmania.
The October 1982 edition of Australian Credit Unions Magazine contains a short piece titled, “The Credit Union of Tasmania Expands”. It relates that, “The Credit Union of Tasmania recently opened two new offices at Eastlands Shopping Square on Hobart’s Eastern Shore and Burnie on Tasmania’s North West Coast. The offices are part of a statewide development programme which will be further enhanced by the opening of its Northern office at Launceston in mid-September and the completed establishment of over 30 Service Centres statewide before the end of October”. Also noted is the fact that at the time the membership of The Credit Union of Tasmania was over 11,300 making it Tasmania’s largest credit union.
The December 1985 issue of Australian Credit Unions Magazine contained another story detailing the ongoing expansion of The Credit Union of Tasmania. It notes that after a year of “spectacular growth”, the credit union decided to “open a branch in one of Australia’s true frontier towns”, namely Queenstown. The article goes on to say that the credit union had over 1,000 members in the Queenstown vicinity who up until then had a significant distance to travel in order to use the services of a branch. As part of the promotion of the new branch The Credit Union of Tasmania promised to deposit $3 free to new member accounts opened in Queenstown.
The end of The Credit Union of Tasmania era was announced in the August 1986 edition. The piece states bluntly that:
“The Credit Union of Tasmania and the Island State Credit Union amalgamated in July. The new credit union is known as the Island State Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited. Greg Dodd (formerly General Manager, C.U.T.) has been appointed Managing Director and Garth Wilmot (formerly General Manager Island State) has retained his position as General Manager and Secretary”.
