New bank opening

By Tania Martin
LOCAL residents gathered in Cockatoo on Friday for the long awaited opening of the Bendigo Community Bank.
After more than five years of hard work, the opening of the bank in McBride Street, Cockatoo, has marked the beginning of a new community bank.
The town has never been large enough to support the development of a proper bank.
However, after undertaking a feasibility study, a steering committee formed to assess the need for a bank in the town and contacted the Bendigo Community Bank’s Upwey branch for help with the project.
Now after more than three years of frustration and hard work by the steering committee and the Upwey branch of the Bendigo Community Bank, the doors will finally open in Cockatoo on Friday.
Opening the bank, Upwey branch chairman Peter Marke said that getting the bank in Cockatoo was a real pioneering effort by the steering committee and the community.
Bendigo Community Bank manager of marketing and corporate affairs, Owen Davies said the opening of the CockatooGembrook bank branch was a celebration of the strength of the community.
Mr Davies said the opening was a mirror image of the opening of the first Bendigo Bank branch more than 150 years ago.
He said the bank would help to make the community stronger.