Sutherland Credit Union was a community credit union and a fixture in the Sutherland Shire in the south of Sydney for many years but it didn’t start out that way …. The Lucas Heights nuclear research facility (today known as ANSTO) is well known for holding Australia’s only nuclear reactor with much of its research being in medical science. In August 1970, workers at Lucas Heights Research Laboratories got together to discuss the formation of a credit union.
In December 1970, the AAEC Employees Credit Union was registered with its inaugural Board consisting of Brian Charlton (Chairman), Ron Sargeant (Vice Chairman), Don Nichols, Jock McCuag, Jim Jacobs, Frank Slade, Anita Beard, Ann Cowper and Ron Owers (Secretary). The credit union opened for business in January 1971 on a very small scale with the Directors dividing the administrative duties among themselves. However, by July of 1971 increased business meant that it became necessary to hire staff. The credit union’s first member, Noela Cox, was taken on as a bookkeeper and in December, Ezio Trenga was made the first Manager.
Constant growth encouraged the Directors and members to take the next logical step and turn the credit union into a community based organisation with a bond to serve the entire Sutherland Shire community. With that, the Shire of Sutherland Credit Union was born in 1982 with its name shortened to Sutherland Credit Union in 1994.
The first branch was in Miranda and in 1986 a branch was opened in Sutherland, followed by Engadine in 1990, Cronulla in 1992 and finally Menai in 1996. The credit union installed its first computer in the early 1980s and innovations such as rediATMs, phone and internet banking were introduced as the years passed.
In 2010, Sutherland Credit Union celebrated its 40th anniversary and in 2013 a new name and a new logo were unveiled. The business name was changed to “The Shire … Local Banking”. The credit union said at the time that “Our new logo represents our geographical location; The Shire seen in the logo as the coastal location represented by the sun and the sea. Local Banking as who we serve and what we do”.
In 2016 The Shire merged with IMB Bank.
