ANTARCTIC BANK

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30959, 15 January 1966, Page 14

ANTARCTIC BANK

Documents On Display Evidence of the first banking transaction in the Antarctic is displayed at an Antarctic photographic exhibition in the Bank of New Zealand in Cathedral square.

It recalls the occasion in 1959 when the late Mr F. C. Milne travelled to McMurdo Sound with a party of United States congressmen to establish an Antarctic agency of the Christchurch branch of the Bank of New Zealand. Mr Milne changed American dollars into New Zealand currency for Mr John R. Pillion, and the banner displayed at McMurdo Sound on that occasion is now held at the bank, together with the original record of the transaction.

At the time the transaction aroused immense interest in banking circles throughout the world, and even today the photograph which was taken of Mr Milne is still featured on the front page of banking journals. The record is signed by Mr Milne and Senator Pillion and witnessed by the other United States congressmen who were present. It reads:

“We the undersigned certify that the first banking transaction in the Antarctic consisted of an exchange of New Zealand funds for American funds by the Bank of New Zealand for Mr John Pillion, member of the House of Representatives. In witness thereof we do hereby subscribe our names, the 17th day of November, 1959, 11.37 p.m.