Who we are
During this time, a largely recognisable problem was the amount of people who had no savings to pay for their own funeral upon their death. Insurance, if at all in existence, was not an option for the many people who had no steady income or aged pension and could not afford to contribute regular payments.
The Board of Directors decided to create the Funeral Fund in 1933 which was aimed at making funeral savings more accessible and obtainable to the many people struggling through the Great Depression. The success of this was attributed to the unofficial Fund motto of “put in what you want” or in many cases, “what, and when, you could afford it”. This was immediately successful with the many members of the community who could put in a meager threepence or sixpence every few weeks, or whatever they had to spare to avoid the Pauper’s Grave.
Socially, it was a wonderful decision by the Board of Directors at that time to help the very vulnerable; one can only imagine the raw struggle of that time during the Great Depression when families had no money and were barely able to feed their own families.
The Board of Directors originally consisted of all men, as was the norm, but over the next few years the success of the Association and its appeal to the housewife who had little or no money for socialising saw a few women eventually come to join the Board.
Fast forward 88-years, and the South Australian Pensioners’ Association is now the oldest and only association of its kind in South Australia. The Fund, although no longer built around the struggles of the Great Depression, still follows the same concept: to provide members with the security of knowing that their funeral would be administered for them in the manner in which they desired and without being a burden on their next of kin.
The sole purpose of our Fund still holds true to the original vision, and we endeavor to provide the same old-fashioned, honest and reliable service that was the core of the Association all those years ago.
We host board meetings on a regular occasion with the aim of keeping the integrity and core values of our Association up-to-date and in line with our members’ needs.
Aside from providing a safe and beneficial funeral savings fund to members of the community, the aims of our Association have adapted and expanded to also provide a social environment in which pensioners or retirees can regularly meet and enjoy activities in the company of people their own age. We host multiple social engagements and activities throughout South Australia, and you can find out more about this by calling Head Office or by checking our website regularly.
If you would like to know more about how funeral fund savings work, read more about us on our Fund and FAQs pages.
