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.
"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."
Reciprocities with other clubs
Melbourne Club (Melbourne) Athenaeum Club (Melbourne) The Australian Club (Melbourne) Boodle's (London) Brooks's (London) Garrick Club (London) New Club (Edinburgh) Knickerbocker Club (New York) Union Club (New York) Metropolitan Club (Washington D.C.) Somerset Club (Boston) Philadelphia Club (Philadelphia) Pacific-Union Club (San Francisco) Circolo della Caccia (Rome) Circolo Nazionale dell'Unione (Naples) Domino Club (Bologna) Circolo Società dell'Unione (Venice) Jockey-Club de Paris (Paris) Jockey Club für Österreich (Vienna) Nuevo Club (Madrid) Haagsche Club (The Hague) Kildare Street & University Club (Dublin) Wellington Club (Wellington) Tokyo Club (Tokyo)
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
Peter Gordon Sayers 1975–1978
Graham Marriott Thorp MC 1978–1981
Louis Walter Davies A0 1981–1984
Hon Sir John Bryan Munro Fuller 1984–1987
Alam Hamilton Loxton AM 1987–1990
Brian Cameron France 1990–1993
Peter John Watt 1993–1996
David Hardy Playfair MBE ED 1996–1999
Robert Lee Maple–Brown AO 1999–2002
Peter Ross Graham QC 2002–2005
Roderick Murchison Hume Kater 2005–2008
Charles Frederick Moore 2008–2011
Richard Hamilton Fisher AM 2011
Membership
At least 5 former Prime Ministers have been members of the club including recently, John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull.
Women are excluded from membership of the club; although they are welcome as guests in most areas and at most functions hosted by the club. For over a century the club has had a friendly albeit informal relationship with the women-only Queen's Club, where many of the members' mothers, wives and sisters are members. The committees of each club take turns to host the other to a formal dinner on an annual basis.
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 only 38 percent voted in favour of allowing women to join, falling well short of the 75 per cent required.
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