Former Reserve Bank of Australia
"Bold, graceful and functional, it lends a simple elegance to the corner of Smith and Bennett Streets. It is the newest branch of the Reserve Bank of Australia and it opened for business in Darwin today" - Northern Territory News, 28 March 1968.
he Reserve Bank Act was passed in 1959 and created a central bank to regulate ustralia's monetary and banking system. Branches of this new institution were planned r all states and territories, with the head office in Sydney.
building reflecting the importance of the Reserve Bank and its role in the Australian onomy was needed. Construction began on the Darwin branch in 1967.
awing its inpiration from ancient Greek and Roman architecture, the building is a example of late twentieth century stripped classical architecture. The way the ding is set back from the boundaries and the use of landscaping were deliberate ices made to highlight the formality of the building and its function.
View of Reserve Bank, Smith Street frontage, 1973. Coburg Collection, Library & Archives NT
The Reserve Bank became part of a group of buildings known as "Bank Corner"
, which included the
Commercial Bank of Australia (the façade of which is now incorporated into the Charles Darwin Centre), the Commonwealth Bank and the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac).
The driveway to your left was used by armoured cars carrying cash, and important documents, a reminder of a time when the banking system relied on cash, and on the storage of paper records rather than computerised systems.
In October 2003 the former Reserve Bank building was declared a Heritage Place under the NT