Cheryl Cotterill helps remote community members with banking. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
Dreams of riches once brought the young and ambitious to Cheryl Cotterill's home town.
Even a 23-year-old Herbert Hoover, who would go on to become the 31st president of the United States, had a brief stint in the region, managing one of the country's largest gold mines.
But commodity downturns, world wars and fly-in, fly-out workforces eventually curbed its growth.
The once-bustling Leonora, 800 kilometres north-east of Perth, is now among the many regional Australian towns that no longer have a bank.
As a result, people have been turning to Ms Cotterill who works at the shire's Community Resource Centre (CRC).
"The banks are instructing the clients … 'Go down to your nearest bank,' which is 234 kilometres away in Kalgoorlie," she said.
"So they come into our CRC office and I help them with their banking."
Ms Cotterill often spends large parts of her day helping remote community residents with banking. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
Leonora may have slowed since its heyday, but it remains an important service hub, particularly for central desert and Ngaanyatjarra communities.
The town has ATMs and some banking services can be done through the post office.
But Ms Cotterill, an elder with connections to Wangkatja and Ngaanyatjarra country, said many remote Indigenous residents, particularly the older generations, needed more support.
She said when a funeral or large gathering occurred nearby, she could be inundated with banking queries.
"The banks are telling them to download an app on their phone so they can get into that app and follow the prompts and activate their pin," she said.
"But they are unable to do that.
"Communication skills and confidence in speaking to other people outside their immediate social group would generally be considered low.
"They also don't have IDs like birth certificates or licences and have limited financial or technical knowledge."
She believes financial institutions need to step up.
Last June, she went to a finance industry conference and addressed the sector publicly.
Former US president Herbert Hoover briefly lived in the region. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
Ms Cotterill asked the banks to send representatives to Leonora to see the challenges firsthand, and to give her training on their websites and apps.
She called for a private area to discuss banking matters, more flexible identification processes and compensation to the Leonora Shire for her interpreting.
She also said the banks failed to represent Indigenous people on their website landing pages.
"Which I feel speaks volumes towards the version of Australia you all see,"
she said.
Files are unusually secure at the Shire of Leonora, as they are stored in the former bank building's vault. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
'More and more vulnerable'
More than a third of Australia's regional bank branches have closed in the past eight years, according to the federal government.
While the major banks recently agreed to a moratorium on further closures until at least 2027, under a deal struck with the federal government, advocates said the exodus had taken a toll on remote community members.
Along with limited access to technology and language barriers, many now have to travel hundreds of kilometres further to reach their closest branch.
Almost 700km north of Leonora, in the Ngaanyatjarra community of Warburton, resident Angelica McLean said the push to online banking saw many older people share their login details with family, to help them navigate webpages.
But she said this could lead to serious problems.
Angelica McLean is concerned a push to online banking services is leaving many remote customers behind. (ABC Goldfields: Giulia Bertoglio)
Ms McLean said residents were at times targeted by scammers and online gambling created further problems.
She worries about how these barriers will impact on people's futures.
"They are becoming more and more vulnerable.
"It's a huge thing because [there are so many] barriers. Not being able to understand speaking English is hard, let alone reading it."
Warburton residents have to travel 900 kilometres to reach a bank in Kalgoorlie. (ABC Goldfields: Giulia Bertoglio)
The country's big four banks said they had First Nations' support teams, flexible identification arrangements, scam and cyber awareness clinics, and interpreter services in 10–14 of the 250-plus Australian Indigenous languages.
If a customer's language is not covered, the Commonwealth Bank allows a friend or family member to translate and Westpac said an authorised person could help them write to the bank in English.
It is not clear what happens if there is no appropriate, bilingual person available.
Leonora remains an important service hub. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
Industry has 'a long way to go'
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it was working to educate financial institutions on how to better cater to First Nations customers.
ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said many had a long way to go.
"We'll go to institutions and say, 'How many First Nations consumers do you have?'" he said.
"And they sometimes can't answer the question."
He said ASIC was promoting more flexible ways of identification, for people who might not have birth certificates, passports or driver's licences.
"The industry has definitely got a long way to go on a number of issues that we're working on, but particularly on identification."
Alan Kirkland says ASIC is working to improve support for First Nations consumers. (ABC News: John Gunn)
An ASIC framework, designed to guide financial institutions supporting First Nations customers, said poor access to their services could have huge ramifications.
"Issues with money can have lasting physical and emotional consequences," the report states.
"This can be seen in housing stress, the impact on physical and emotional health, poor access to education opportunities, and limited service provision."
People once came to Leonora to strike it rich but the town now doesn't have a bank. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
Local government aims to help
Many local governments are striving to help.
The Shire of Ashburton, 1,400km north of Perth, commissioned financial advisory firm KPMG to investigate the feasibility of a local government-owned bank.
This was among the recommendations a parliamentary inquiry into regional bank closures put forward last year, which the federal government is yet to respond to.
Ashburton Shire President Audra Smith said the region's last bank closed in 2022 and now residents had to drive six hours on a dirt road to reach their closest branch.
She said this had an outsized toll on vulnerable people, who might not have the means or ability to travel.
She hopes a public bank could pave a way forward.
Audra Smith hopes a local government-owned bank could help her community. (Supplied: Shire of Ashburton)
"[They can offer] some form of face-to-face services to regional and remote communities to be able to access a bank," she said.
The federal government recently helped Australia Post and the major banks to expand "Bank@Post" agreements, allowing people to access some services through their post office.Â
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said his party would aim to lower regional banks' operating costs and give them a fairer playing field with the major banks.
"The Coalition will continue to make regional banking and financial services a priority if elected," he said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers was contacted for comment.
Small improvements
Seven months after Ms Cotterill publicly raised her concerns, things are improving in Leonora.
She said Westpac had visited the area twice.
It was also the only major bank to confirm it had visited the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, and planned to return in the future.
NAB planned to visit this year.
The local shire also used grant funding to install a sound-proof booth, where Ms Cotterill can discuss financial matters privately.
Ms Cotterill was pleased to have this soundproof booth installed for discussing financial matters. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
She may even soon be authorised to formally identify people.
Ms Cotterill hopes more long-term solutions will soon eventuate.
"Maybe [more financial institutions] should come up," she said.
"See how things work here for us, how busy we can get."
Poor access to financial services can have significant impacts on remote community residents. (ABC Goldfields: Giulia Bertoglio)