Australian Club
![]() Australian Club, 165 Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales | |
Formation | 1838 |
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Location |
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Coordinates | 33°51′57″S 151°12′44″E / 33.8657097°S 151.2121269°E |
Website | Australian Club |
The Australian Club is a private club founded in 1838 and located in Sydney at 165 Macquarie Street. Its membership is men-only and it is the oldest gentlemen's club in the southern hemisphere. It enjoys reciprocal arrangements with other clubs of its type including; the Melbourne Club, Boodle's and Brooks's in London, the Pacific-Union Club in San Francisco, California Club in Los Angeles, Union Club and Knickerbocker Club of New York City, the Metropolitan Club in Washington D.C., and the Somerset Club in Boston.
"The Club provides excellent dining facilities, en-suite bedrooms and apartments, a fully equipped gym, and on Level 7 of the building in which the Clubhouse is located, are first rate business facilities which Members and resident guests may access."[1]
Presidents
- Hon Alexander Macleay MLC FLS FRS 1838 - 1848
- Hon Campbell Drummond Riddell 1848 - 1856
- Hon Sir Edward Deas-Thomson KCMG CB MLC 1857 - 1879
- Hon Sir William Macarthur MLC 1879 - 1882
- Christopher Rolleston CMG 1882 -1888
- Edward Merewether FRGS 1888 - 1893
- Hon Philip Gidley King MLC 1894 - 1900
- Hon Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor MLC 1900 - 1908
- Hon Henry Edward Kater MLC 1909 - 1924
- John Archibald Anderson 1924 - 1933
- Major-General Hon James William Macarthur-Onslow VD MLC 1933 - 1936
- William Deuchar Gordon 1936 - 1939
- Pat Hamilton Osborne 1939 - 1942
- Hon Sir Colin Sinclair KBE MLC 1942 - 1945
- Hon Sir Norman William Kater MLC 1945 - 1948
- Edmund Irving Body 1948 - 1951
- Hon Sir Colin Sinclair KBE MLC 1951 - 1954
- John Gordon Crowther 1954 - 1957
- Edmund Irving Body CBE 1957 - 1959
- John Gordon Crowther 1959 - 1960
- Rt Hon Sir Victor Windeyer KBE, CB, DSO, ED, QC 1960 - 1963
- Donald Brian Hardy Arnott 1963 - 1966
- Major-General Sir Denzil Macarthur-Onslow CBE DSO ED 1966 - 1969
- Sir Norman Lethbridge Cowper CBE 1969 - 1972
- Sir William Morrow DSO ED 1972 - 1975
Membership
Former Prime Ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull are members of the club.[2]
Women are excluded from membership of the club. In June 2021, around 700 members attended a Special General Meeting of the club to vote on a proposal to allow women to join the club. Seventy-five percent of attending members needed to vote for the proposal in order for it to receive approval. The proposal was defeated when 62 percent voted against allowing women to join.[2]
Website
The club website is titled 165 Macquarie Street but is only accessible to members.
See also
- Australian Club (Melbourne)
- White's
- List of India's gentlemen's clubs
- List of London's Gentleman's clubs
References
- ^ Australian Club Web Site Home page
- ^ a b O'Mallon, Finbar (15 June 2021). "'Beyond belief': Elite men's club votes no to letting women in". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
External links
Media related to Australian Club at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- The Australian Club Photograph Powerhouse Museum