The Colac branch of the Union Bank of Australasia was built in the town's prominent high street shopping precinct at number 15 Murray Street. The Union Bank of Australasia was in good company, with other major banks just a short distance away.
Completed in 1916 at a cost of £2,689.00, the designer for the former Union Bank of Australasia building was the noted bank architect Walter Richmond Butler (1864 - 1949) who also designed matching bank premises in the Victorian country towns of Shepparton, Yarram and Toora, as well as a much grander example of a Union Bank in the Victorian village of Loch. Built of red brick, the architecture of the bank was given the term "Modernistic", as compared to contemporary Federation design in the prevailing Queen Anne style, it was very simple, uncluttered and modern in appearance. However Walter Richmond Bulter studied and trained in Arts and Crafts design, and you can see this clearly that this is the prevailing architectural style of the building. The former Union Bank of Australasia building is constructed of red brick, which was the most common building material used in Arts and Crafts design. The windows, which are simple and feature leadlight mullioned glass rather than stained glass are also typical of the Arts and Crafts movement, as is the stuccoed brick band that runs around the middle of the building like a girdle.
The former Union Bank of Australasia building was also home to the bank manager of the branch, who would have resided with his family on the upper floor of the bank. A central bay balcony (how enclosed) would have offered lovely views of the grand buildings on the other side of the road including the Shire Hall and Post Office.
Since its closure, the former Union Bank of Australasia has become an antique shop that runs a brisque trade in such a prominent locale.
Walter Richmond Butler was rightly considered an architect of great talent, and many of his clients were wealthy pastoralists and businessmen. His country-house designs include "Blackwood" (1891), near Penshurst, for R. B. Ritchie, "Wangarella" (1894), near Deniliquin, New South Wales, for Thomas Millear, and "Newminster Park" (1901), near Camperdown, for A. S. Chirnside. Equally distinguished large houses were designed for the Melbourne suburbs: "Warrawee" (1906), Toorak, for A. Rutter Clark; "Thanes" (1907), Kooyong, for F. Wallach; "Kamillaroi" (1907) for Baron Clive Baillieu, and extensions to "Edzell" (1917) for George Russell, both in St Georges Road, Toorak. These are all fine examples of picturesque gabled houses in the domestic revival genre. Butler was also involved with domestic designs using a modified classical vocabulary, as in his remodelling of "Billilla" (1905), Brighton, for W. Weatherley, which incorporates panels of flat-leafed foliage. His ardent admiration for R. N. Shaw is reflected in his eclectic works. Butler also regarded himself as a garden architect. As architect to the diocese of Melbourne from 1895, he designed the extensions to "Bishopscourt" (1902), East Melbourne. His other church work includes St Albans (1899), Armadale, the Wangaratta Cathedral (1907), and the colourful porch and tower to Christ Church (c.1910), Benalla. For the Union Bank of Australia he designed many branch banks and was also associated with several tall city buildings such as Collins House (1910) and the exceptionally fine Queensland Insurance Building (1911). For Dame Nellie Melba Butler designed the Italianate lodge and gatehouse at "Coombe Cottage" (1925) at Coldstream.
Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac. The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray. A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains. The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches. The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name. The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it. Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city. Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people. Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets. Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).
