Serial S544 - CBOA Bulletin

The United Bank Officers' Association was formed in Sydney in 1919; the same year E.C. Peverill from the National Bank of Australasia in Victoria was instrumental in establishing the Bank Officials' Association which also covered Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. By 1921 the separate state unions known as the Bank Officials' Association of South Australia and the Bank Officials' Association of Western Australia had also been formed. In 1919 K.H. Laidlaw formed the United Bank Officers' Association of Queensland. While the Bank Officials' Association in Victoria was registered federally the other unions were registered in various state courts. In 1921 the Bank Officials' Association in Victoria proposed an amalgamation of all banking unions, to be organised with a federal council and state branches. However, the UBOA of New South Wales and Queensland both rejected this proposal, partly due to Sydney Smith's (the UBOA of New South Wales Secretary) fears that amalgamation would mean the loss of state autonomy. Smith planned to register federally a union of bank officers from the fast growing Commonwealth Bank and to expedite this he formed the Commonwealth Bank Branch of the UBOA of NSW. This was registered in 1921 as the United Bank Officers' Association, Commonwealth Branch. In 1924 this branch changed its name to become the United Bank Officers' Association, Commonwealth Bank Branch. In 1930 the Commonwealth Bank Branch of the UBOA became a separate association altogether and was renamed the Commonwealth Bank Officers' Association. In March 1994 the Commonwealth Bank Officers' Association was reunited with its old parent union, the United Bank Officers' Association now in the form of the much stronger Finance Sector Union.