 | |
| Company type | Mutual |
|---|---|
| Industry |
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| Predecessors | Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows (MUIOOF), Australian Natives' Association (ANA) |
| Founded | 7 December 1840 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Australia |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 7,500 (2018) |
| Website | www |
Australian Unity is an Australian mutual company having its origins in the friendly societies movement. In 2012, Big Sky was merged with Australian Unity to become the banking arm of the company.
It was formed as the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows (MUIOOF) in Melbourne, Victoria, on 7 December 1840 by eight men including Thomas Strode, publisher of the Port Phillip Gazette and Augustus Greeves, inspired by Independent Order of Oddfellows Manchester Unity.
In 1993, Manchester Unity merged with the Australian Natives' Association to form Australian Unity. Later mergers occurred with Grand United Friendly Society in 2005, Lifeplan Australia Friendly Society in 2009, and Big Sky Credit Union in 2012. [1] Australian Unity has about 8,500 employees across healthcare, insurance and banking (in the guise of Big Sky Credit Union) divisions. [2]
In 2012, Big Sky merged with Australian Unity to become the banking arm of Australian Unity. [3] [4] Ownership of Big Sky Credit Union Limited was transferred to Australian Unity Limited's subsidiary Lifeplan Australia Building Society Limited and renamed Big Sky Building Society Limited. Members of Big Sky Credit Union became members of Australian Unity. [5] [6]
The company commissioned the Manchester Unity Building, a neo-Gothic Art Deco skyscraper, and one of the most well-known and recognisable buildings in Melbourne, Australia, in 1928. The building was constructed in 1932. [7] [8]
Another Melbourne building, formerly owned by Manchester Unity Oddfellows, at 335–347 Swanston Street was compulsorily acquired by the Commonwealth government in 1947. [9] [10] The building, constructed in 1940–41, sits opposite the State Library of Victoria, adjacent to the Melbourne Central shopping centre.
The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of White native-born Australians, and membership was restricted to that group.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political, non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Order of Odd Fellows founded in England during the 18th century, the IOOF was originally chartered by the Independent Order of Oddfellows Manchester Unity in England but has operated as an independent organization since 1842, although it maintains an inter-fraternal relationship with the English Order. The order is also known as the Triple Link Fraternity, referring to the order's "Triple Links" symbol, alluding to its motto "Friendship, Love and Truth".
The Independent Order of Rechabites (IOR), also known as the Sons and Daughters of Rechab, is a fraternal organisation and friendly society founded in England in 1835 as part of the wider temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. The Order has been active in Australia from 1843, promoting temperance and as a benefit society. A branch was established in the United States in 1842, and also flourished for a time. In the United Kingdom, the Order trades under the name of Healthy Investment, being well connected in upper society and involved in financial matters; there it gradually transformed into a financial institution which promotes teetotalism.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, is an Australian financial institution, operating primarily in retail banking. The company was formed by the merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank in November 2007.
St.George Bank is an Australian bank with its headquarters in Sydney. Since a 2008 merger, the bank has been part of Westpac, having previously been an independent legal entity. In 2010, St.George was deregistered as a company and ceased to be a standalone authorised deposit-taking institution.
Odd Fellows is an international fraternity consisting of lodges first documented in 1730 in London. The first known lodge was called Loyal Aristarcus Lodge No. 9, suggesting there were earlier ones in the 18th century. Notwithstanding, convivial meetings were held "in much revelry and, often as not, the calling of the Watch to restore order." Names of several British pubs today suggest past Odd Fellows affiliations. In the mid-18th century, following the Jacobite risings, the fraternity split into the rivaling Order of Patriotic Oddfellows in southern England, favouring William III of England, and the Ancient Order of Oddfellows in northern England and Scotland, favouring the House of Stuart.
The Independent Order of Oddfellows Manchester Unity Friendly Society Limited, also called the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows; trading as The Oddfellows, is a fraternal order founded in Manchester in 1810.
Banking in Australia is dominated by four major banks: Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group and National Australia Bank. There are several smaller banks with a presence throughout the country which includes Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Suncorp Bank, and a large number of other financial institutions, such as credit unions, building societies and mutual banks, which provide limited banking-type services and are described as authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs). Many large foreign banks have a presence, but few have a retail banking presence. The central bank is the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The Australian government’s Financial Claims Scheme guarantees deposits up to $250,000 per account-holder per ADI in the event of the ADI failing.
Big Sky Credit Union (BSCU) was an Australian based credit union formed by the current or ex-employees, contractors or service providers of BHP, BP and the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria and their subsidiaries, affiliated or divested companies. Big Sky became part of Australian Unity in 2012 and was merged with Australian Unity's subsidiary Lifeplan Australia Building Society which was subsequently renamed Big Sky Building Society. From 2016, Big Sky's operations, services and website were integrated into Australian Unity. In 2018, Big Sky Building Society became Australian Unity Bank.
The Manchester Unity Building is an Art Deco Gothic inspired office and retail building in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, constructed in 1931–32 for the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows. The soaring stepped corner tower on a prominent intersection opposite the Melbourne Town Hall makes it one of the most prominent and best known buildings in Melbourne.
Odd Fellows or Oddfellows is an international fraternity and its members.
Marcus Barlow (1890–1954) was a prominent Australian architect in the interwar period, who designed a number of notable central city buildings in his home-town of Melbourne. He is best known for the 1932 Manchester Unity Building, whose Gothic corner spire dominates the major intersection of the city.
The former Bank of Australasia Headquarters is an historic bank headquarters in Renaissance Revival style located on the corner of Queen Street and Collins Street, the traditional heart of Melbourne's financial precinct, with 19th Century banks on three corners.
The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, American Jurisdiction is a jurisdiction of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows in the United States, Jamaica, Canada, South America, and other locations. Since its founding in 1843, its membership has principally included African Americans, due to their being discriminated against in most other fraternal orders in America at the time.
Sir Alfred William Watson KCB FIA was a British actuary and civil servant. In 1917 he became Britain's first government actuary and was very influential in setting up funding fromNational Insurance for the newly introduced state pension.
Grand United Order of Oddfellows Friendly Society (GUOOFS) is an odd fellows grand lodge founded in 1798 and based in Manchester, England.
Unity Credit Union Limited, formerly Manchester Unity Credit Union, is a not-for-profit member-owned financial co-operative, based in Manchester and operating throughout the United Kingdom. The credit union was first established for members of the Independent Order of Oddfellows by Manchester Unity Friendly Society in 1991.
Glennie Hall is a heritage-listed community hall at 66 Albion Street, Warwick, Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Wallace & Gibson and built from 1880 to 1891 by E B Budgen. It is also known as Odd Fellows Hall. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 July 2001.
The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) is a government department in Victoria, Australia. Commencing operation on 1 January 2019 as the Department of Transport (DOT), the DOT was formed in machinery of government changes made by Premier Daniel Andrews after the re-election of his Labor government at the 2018 Victorian state election. The re-shuffle saw the "super-ministry" Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources abolished and its functions reassigned to the DOT and Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions.