Westpac Bank

This bank, constructed as the Bank of New South Wales in 1940, is emblematic of the Commonwealth Government’s £1.5 million civil and defence work programme between the years 1938 and 1941 when critical infrastructure was added to the town after years of stagnation and is an important element in the Bank Corner precinct of the central business district. The bank was damaged during bombing raids in 1942 and again during Cyclone Tracy in 1975. On each occasion it was repaired and refurbished so little of its original fabric remains, although it retains its Colonial Revival style, which contrasts with its three counterparts on Bank Corner. The Westpac Bank building is valued by the community as an inner-city pre-war structure and as part of the essential commercial infrastructure of any city.