History
Above: The Oriental Bank, Main Street Mornington, 1875
“Which bank?” “The Oriental. It’s the only bank in town” By Val Wilson (Mornington and District Historical Society) and Peter McCullough
T
he conversation above is one that might have been overheard in Main Street, Mornington , circa 1875, when the Oriental Bank established itself in a building on the corner of Main and Albert Streets; it was the town’s first bank.
which traded there from 1875 to 1880. It was then taken over by the Colonial Bank (2) which occupied the building until 1894 when it moved to premises on the other side of Main Street.
Pioneer resident Thomas Allchin constructed the building from bricks made from material extracted from his clay pit on the lower corner of his Sutton Grange Estate. The pit was located in Gordon Street, to the rear of what has become the Mornington Central shopping centre.
Over the past 130 years the building has housed a variety of retail premises including Herb Dickinson’s The Point furnishing store in 1923 and then The Point hardware store for many years after that. Today the occupants are an eclectic mix: one can enjoy a Subway at the lower level and then slip upstairs for a Brazilian wax! The building reveals little of its former appearance except for the characteristic splayed corner and rectangular upper level double hung windows.
Allchin leased his impressive building to the Oriental Bank (1)
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The Building
March 2022
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