Well known in Benalla is Reverend Alexander McConnan, Presbyterian minister here for more than 25 years.
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McConnan St is named for him.
However, his son, Leslie McConnan, has at least an equal claim to fame.
Leslie McConnan was born in 1887 in Benalla’s Presbyterian Manse.
He was schooled at North Eastern College.
Then, in 1904, he joined the Benalla branch of the National Bank of Australasia.
Like most male bank staff of the time, McConnan moved from branch to branch about every two years.
Competent and hard working, he was a branch manager by 27.
McConnan married Gladys Hay in 1921. He was 34.
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During the next 20 years, McConnan became NAB state manager for South Australia in 1923, then manager of the London branch in 1928.
Finally, McConnan was appointed state manager for NSW in 1930.
By 1935, McConnan succeeded Sir Ernest Wreford as chief manager of the bank. He was just 47.
In 1936, he gave evidence to the Royal Commission on the Monetary and Banking System.
The Royal Commission recommended a tighter, more centrally planned economy under the supervision of a powerful Reserve Bank.
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McConnan gave evidence that no extra powers need be given to the Reserve Bank, then the Commonwealth Bank.
He argued that existing voluntary co-operation between trading banks and the Commonwealth Bank provided the fledgling central bank with all the powers it required.
His evidence was rejected and the problems he foresaw came to pass.
Deeply conservative, McConnan was a foundation member of the council of the Institute of Public Affairs and was friendly with Sir Robert Menzies.
He was also president of the Associated Banks of Victoria from 1938 to 1949 (with interruptions), a lobby group similar to the present day Australian Bankers’ Association.
He also used his membership in various clubs in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide to push for his ideas and to resist the policies of the ALP.
When the Chifley government proposed to nationalise banks in 1947, McConnan led the charge against the proposal.
Under him, bank officers campaigned against the plan.
McConnan travelled for months to mobilise customers and to speak against the plan.
The Chifley government was defeated in 1949.
The High Court and then the Privy Council, on appeal, struck down the Bank Nationalisation Act as unconstitutional.
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The Act denied free intercourse between states as required by Section 92 of the Constitution.
It also did not offer just terms for the acquisition of property, as required by section 51(xxxi).
Leslie McConnan was knighted in 1951 and retired the next year.
Upon his retirement after 48 years, he became a director of several companies.
He also sat on the executives of a number of charitable trusts and organisations, including the Royal Society of Victoria and the Victorian division of the Australian Red Cross.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography describes him as "one of the most influential men of his generation".
Not bad for a Benalla boy!
McConnan died after a fall in 1954. He was 67.
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