Banks established agencies in Yarra Flats in the mid-1880s when the population swelled due to the building of the aqueduct and the railway.
Two of our historic buildings are legacies of this development.
The Commercial Bank opened at Yarra Flats on 4 January 1886, in temporary premises rented from the blacksmith, Frank Farvis, and Charles Harbord Watt (1861-1947) was appointed manager.
William Farrell, then licensee of the Yarra Flats Hotel, recognised a business opportunity and erected a brick building opposite his hotel.
It was completed in July 1886 and Farrell leased it to the bank, which later bought it in 1894.
The building, now a private residence, still stands on the corner of Armstrong Grove and Bell Street.
The Colonial Bank opened its branch in February 1886 under the management of Mr O’Shannessey.
It was housed in a weatherboard building owned by the storekeeper Philip Kiernan near the corner of King and Bell streets.
Kiernan sold the property in 1887 and ironically it was purchased by the Commercial Bank.
The Colonial Bank thenceforth leased its premises from its rival until July 1890.
By this time William Herbert had erected a substantial two-storey building on the corner of Bell Street and Herbert Lane which the Colonial Bank then moved into.
Business gradually declined in Yarra Glen after the completion of the railway and aqueduct building projects.
No bank managers are listed in the trade directories between 1895 and 1900 and details are sparse for the early twentieth century.
The Sands and McDougall Directory advertises an agency at Yarra Glen in 1900 and also in 1915.
Alfred E Priestley was the manager of the Commercial Bank during the early 1890s until the bank transferred its operations to the Lilydale branch in 1892.
The building has been a private residence ever since; notably the home of the local doctor, Dr Henry Vogler, from 1906 until 1930.
In the 1930s the National Bank operated an agency in the former Colonial Bank building, opening only on Thursdays.
This service closed in 1941.
In the 1960s the State Savings Bank operated from this building.
Keith Rodwell was manager, followed by Mr RW McSweeney in 1971.
The State Savings Bank erected a new building on the corner of Bell and King Streets in 1972.
The Commonwealth Bank acquired the ailing State Savings Bank of Victoria in 1991 and has maintained its own branch in this building ever since.
The Bank of Melbourne opened premises on the opposite side of Bell Street about 1990.
It was replaced by the Bendigo Bank about 10 years later and this bank continues today.
