Origins
Pyramid was established in 1959 by Vautin Andrews and Bob Farrow, with a view to helping the city grow. Andrews was later mayor of Geelong and Farrow was an accountant and his firm managed the society. When legislation changed in the mid 1960s to allow building societies to take deposits from the public Pyramid grew rapidly. When Bob Farrow's health suffered in the late 1970s his son Bill Farrow took over much of the operation, and Andrews' son Bruce Andrews also worked for the society. Pyramid took over control of its competitor the Geelong Building Society in 1971. That society had origins going back to 1867 and had been operated very conservatively.
In 1983 the rules for Pyramid and Geelong were changed to allow shares representing ownership of the societies to be issued, and the Farrow Group controlled by the Farrow family asserted that they as managers should get most of them. After the collapse the basis for this assertion was disputed, but Farrow ended up as owner of a substantial business for a very modest outlay of money. In 1984 the Farrow Group also took over the small Third Extended Starr-Bowkett Building Society and renamed it the Countrywide Building Society. At the time of the collapse the group was headed by Bill Farrow and former Geelong Football Club player David E. Clarke.
Read more about this topic: Pyramid Building Society
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