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English: Australia and New Zealand Bank Limited was created in 1951 by the merging of the Bank of Australasia and the Union Bank of Australia. Both were incorporated in and mainly capitalized from Britain, and their head offices were in London. The former began business in 1835, and in its early years absorbed two small banks: the Cornwall Bank in Launceston, and the Bank of Western Australia in Perth. The latter commenced in 1837, absorbing both the Tamar Bank and Archers Gilles & Company in Launceston, the Bathurst Bank (New South Wales) and the Bank of South Australia, itself a 'British' bank, and the first bank in South Australia. This book is an account of the history of eight banks which Australia and New Zealand Bank counts as its ancestors. It is not meant, at least not primarily, for specialists in history or economics, but for a wider audience. The materials used are vast, scattered, and extremely diverse, mostly in manuscript, and largely not available for public reference. To have documented the work wi...