State Bank of Victoria
former government-owned bank in Victoria, Australia
The State Bank of Victoria was an Australian bank that existed from 1842 until 1990 when it was taken over by the Commonwealth Bank. It was owned by the State of Victoria.
History
A government-controlled savings bank had been founded on 1 January 1842 as the Savings Bank of Port Philip. Other independent savings banks merged over time and this development was recognised by legislation in 1912, which reconstituted the bank as the State Savings Bank of Victoria. In 1980 its name was changed to the State Bank of Victoria, the name it had until its sale to the Commonwealth Bank in 1990 and subsequent dissolution.
The State Bank collapsed due to the weight of the grossly irresponsible lending made in the 1980s, in particular by its merchant bank subsidiary Tricontinental, after the Reserve Bank of Australia decision to increase interest rates in 1989 brought about the deep recession that put pressure on those financial institutions that were heavily exposed to the property market.
Another contributor to the State Bank's decline was its acquisition of the already troubled Australian Bank in January 1989.
Tricontinental eventually collapsed with losses of A$1.5 billion, which threatened the existence of the State Bank and led to its sale to the Commonwealth Bank. The overall sale price was A$2.0 billion.
The collapse of the State Bank was a key factor in the defeat of the State Labor government led by Joan Kirner and the election of the Liberal Party led by Jeff Kennett, at the 1992 Victorian state election.
“State Bank of Victoria” enters the record as former government-owned bank in Victoria, Australia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what State, Bank and Victoria can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“State Bank of Victoria” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, State, Bank and Victoria provides the most credible route into that argument.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7603075. VIAF identifies the subject as 269001401. The Library of Congress control number is n82065766. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1842, 1990, 1912 and 1980.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “State Bank of Victoria”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow State Bank of Victoria primary sources, State Bank of Victoria archive and State research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “State Bank of Victoria”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “State Bank of Victoria” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.