Adec Preview Generated PDF File - The Sydney eScholarship ...

5.3 The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited
On 16 August 1881 the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney opened
a branch at Milparinka. The bank also opened on 2 September 1881 at
Tibooburra, but closed there sixteen and a half months later, transferring
remaining accounts to Milparinka. Both branches occupied rented
premises, with the Milparinka branch relocating in November 1881 to
premises which appear to have been purpose-built. The Bank's general
ledger suggests that a cedar counter, safe, revolver, stamps, candles,
firewood and signboard were paid for between October and November
1881, and a water tank and a safe were transported from Wilcannia - the
tank at a cost of £3/010, the safe for £3/8/6. Accounts for sundry purchases
were paid locally to Palmer & Co and Heuzenroder, and eight shillings was
paid for water on 20 January 1883 (NAB1, various dates).
Photograph 6 was taken in the mid-1920s, by which time the old bank
building was a family home. It is the foremost building in the photograph,
with the Royal Standard Hotel building, minus its verandah, in the
background.
The records of the bank provide information regarding gold purchases, and
the names of customers whose account balances were transferred from
the Tibooburra branch when it closed in January 1883. In all eighty
accounts were transferred from Tibooburra to Milparinka, including those
of E. and R. Resch (later the proprietors of Resch's Brewery in Sydney),
and J.T. Evans, one of the discoverers of gold at Mount Browne.
The bank's board minutes and the branch's record of gold purchases
provide the only surviving source of information about Milparinka Branch
customers. Board minutes suggest that the branch's customers included I
& W Caldwell of Woodburn Station, George Bates and Sons (of Bates'
Coally), and Cramsie Bowden and Woodfall, while recorded gold
purchases included the names of Heuzenroder, Evans, O'Connor,
Bamess, Penrose, Smith and Hammat. The name of Hammat dates from
September 1881 at which time Bill Hammat (or Emmett) was in
partnership with Sidney Kidman. The record adds credence to the
possibility that Kidman, in partnership with Hammat, operated one of the
first stores at Milparinka.
Also in the board minutes is a record of the bank's closure 'Milparinka - It
was decided to close this branch. '(NAB4, July 13, 1886).
P.W.L. Barr, mentioned above in connection with the sale of a cottage
adjacent to the Royal Standard Hotel, was an employee of the Commercial
Banking Company throughout the time the bank operated at Milparinka.