Queenstown residents have said their final goodbyes to the last remaining bank on Tasmania’s West Coast, marking the Bendigo Bank’s closure with a symbolic funeral service.
Locals gathered at the Queenstown Golf Club this afternoon to mourn what many described as “the death of face-to-face banking” in their community, bringing flowers and raising beers in a send-off.
“That’s our community spirit. We try and laugh when we can’t cry,” one resident told 7 Tasmania.
The group placed a cross surrounded by flowers on the doorstep of the bank after it closed for the final time today.
The closure comes despite months of fierce opposition from locals who collected almost 3000 signatures on a petition urging the bank to keep its doors open.
“To then have a historic town like ours with beautiful historic buildings not display a bank in it … it’s disheartening,” the resident said.
The Cradle Coast Authority made a last-ditch appeal to Bendigo and Adelaide Bank CEO Richard Fennell, supported by nine member councils and Federal Member for Braddon Anne Urquhart.
“Residents and businesses on the West Coast deserve access to the same banking services as other Australians,” Cradle Coast Authority CEO Philip Reid said.
Bendigo Bank cited rising costs and reduced foot traffic as reasons for the closure, saying 74% of Queenstown customers are registered for online banking, with only 21% visiting the branch more than once last year.
For residents requiring services like opening accounts or applying for loans, the nearest alternative is now a four-hour return trip to Burnie.
“The Bendigo Bank not just crushing the great Aussie dream of owning your own home, is impairing our town from expanding and growing,” memorial organiser Janet Lay told 7 Tasmania.
The closure marks the end of physical banking services across the entire West Coast, following Commonwealth Bank’s exit from Queenstown in 2021.
