People Australia

Edwin Peverill, 1941

Sunraysia Daily (Mildura, Vic), 8 July 1941, p 4

Peverill, Edwin Charles (1890-1978) bank officer and trade union official

Birth: 13 April 1890 at East Ballarat, Victoria, son of native-born parents George Ernest Peverill (1857-1939), a merchant of English descent, and Jessie Elizabeth, née Duthie (1862-1939), whose parents were born in Kinkardineshire, Scotland. Marriage: 1 March 1912 at East Ballarat, to Jane Ivy Davidson (1891-1962), born at Stratford, Victoria. They had one daughter and one son. Death: 8 August 1978 at Parkville, Melbourne; usual residence Hoffman’s Road, Niddrie, Victoria. 

• Joined National Bank of Australasia about 1907. Transferred to Kew branch in 1919. Joined with a group of people who were disgruntled with the wages.
• Formed an informal organisation of 240 members in Victoria and five members in other states. Lodged application for registering the Bank Officials’ Association (later renamed the Australian Bank Officials’ Association) with the Arbitration Court as a federal body in 1919.
• The banks opposed the registration of the association and so the matter was referred to the industrial courts. The association was registered, with further expansion of influence in other States.
• Peverill was prominent in gaining the first award and was given the opportunity to gain official position within the union but decided to remain with the bank. He spent thirteen years as bank manager at Mildura where he had played an active part in district football, and was a prominent member of the Rotary Club. Praised “as a banker and a social worker” at his farewell from the town in July 1941.
• Promoted bank inspector, he noted that his participation in forming the Association did not have the effect of being victimised by the bank, though others were victimised including H. Laidlaw in his bank and H. F. Rawson at the 'Wales' in Sydney”.
• In 1952 he visited Britain with his wife.
• Cause of death; cardiorespiratory arrest (minutes), atherotic cardiovascular disease (years) and osteomyelitis of the spine (2 months).
• His only son, sergeant-pilot Roy George Peverill (1914-1942) was killed on active service in England with the Royal Australian Air Force on 30 May 1942.

Sources
Australian Bank Officer, August 1968, p 6.