Burra mines leader Henry Ayers first Bank of Adelaide chairman in 1865; also South Australian premier
The new Bank of Adelaide head office on the corner of King William and Currie streets, Adelaide city, in 1880. (The roadworks are preparing for tram lines.) Henry Ayers' involvement at high levels of Adelaide business was supplemented by being premier of South Australia seven times in the 19th Century.
Images courtesy State Library of South Australia
Henry Ayers, who became rich from the Burra copper mines where he was South Australian Mining Association secretary in charge of 1,000 men, was the first chairman of the Bank of Adelaide – besides becoming seven times premier of South Australian governments.
The Bank of Adelaide was founded in 1865 by a group who included those who had made money from the Burra mines. The board also included Robert Barr Smith who had made his fortune on the wealth that flowed from £80,000 borrowed, with Thomas Elder, to develop Wallaroo and Moonta copper mines in 1860-61.
Thomas Waterhouse was an early shareholder and later director the Burra Burra Mine. With his brother John, he ran a successful grocery business at the intersection of King William and Rundle (Waterhouse's Corner) streets, Adelide city. Waterhouse had also benefited from minerals in another way. During the Victorian gold rush exodus from South Australia, Waterhouse profited from investing heavily in Adelaide city centre land.
Waterhouse and another board member Thomas Magarey shared another South Australian characteristic: devout Protestant Dissent. Magarey came to Australia with brother James in 1845, via New Zealand and a milling background in Lancashire. Four years later, they succeeded John Ridley as owners of the Hindmarsh flour mill. In 1859, Thomas leased a Naracoorte pastoral run carrying more than 20,000 sheep plus cattle and horses. He held other properties in the south east and on Eyre Peninsula.
The other board member was George Harris, who combined with George Scarfe in 1866 to start an ironmonger business with premises in Hindley Street that moved to the long-standing Grenfell Street site of hardware sellers, later retailers, Harris Scarfe, in Adelaide city.
The bank was supported from the start with a capital of £250,000 from 50,000 shares sold at £5 each. Applications for more than 120,000 shares were made. Branches at Port Adelaide, Goolwa, Kapunda and Gawler were opened int he bank's first two years.. During the 1880s, the Bank of Adelaide and other banks were connected to agricultural business experiencing success and collapse. The Bank of Adelaide was the only one able to guarantee deposits without loss through the looming depression.
The Bank of Adelaide outgrew premises at Gresham Chambers, Adelaide city, and by 1867 was looking for a new home. Edmund Wright won the design competition in 1878 for a new building on the corner of King William and Currie streets, opened in 1880.
The Bank of Adelaide became a financial pillar of the Adelaide social establishment through to 1979 when it collapsed due to debts from its shareholding in interstate company Finance Corporation of Australia. The Bank of Adelaide merged with the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) banking group to steady its position.
The ANZ occupied 81 King William Street, Adelaide city, building after the merger, before other businesses moved in.
