The Australian Club in Melbourne, Australia is a gentleman's club founded in 1878 by English settlers to provide accommodation, food and refreshments, and congenial surroundings for Melbourne and Victorian businessmen.
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The Club is still active and its building at 110 William Street retains its original 19th-century architecture and furniture.
Architecture
editThe building was designed by Lloyd Tayler in 1879 and erected in two stages in 1879 and 1886 in the Renaissance Revival style of a four storey Italianate palazzo.[1] Tayler himself was expelled from the club shortly afterward. The facade was doubled in width in 1886 by J Charlesworth in a matching symmetrical style.[1] The majority of the building's internal and external fabric is preserved and intact.[1] The portico, loggia, copper mansard roof and cupola were added in 1893 at the end of the land boom.[1]
Notable members
editThe following notable persons are known to have been members:
- Sir William John Clarke (1831–1897), landowner, stud-breeder and philanthropist[2]
- Sir Ernest Thomas Fisk (1886–1965), radio pioneer and businessman[2]
- Sir Colin Fraser (1875–1944),[3]
- Duncan Gillies (1834–1903), politician[2]
- Rupert W. Hornabrook (1871–1951), anaesthetist
- Sir Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson (1875–1952), politician and lawyer[2]
- Sir James MacBain (1828–1892), businessman and politician[2]
- John Alexander MacPherson (1833–1894), politician[2]
- Sir Norman Angus Martin (1893–1978), farmer, grazier and politician[2]
- Alexander Morrison (1829–1903), schoolmaster[2]
- Sir William Herbert Phillipps (1847–1935), merchant and philanthropist in SA[2]
- Sir Alfred Roberts (1823–1898), surgeon[2]
- William Rutledge (1806–1876), merchant, banker and settler[2]
- Edmund Edmonds Smith (1847–1914), ship-owner[2]
- Sir Sydney Snow (1887–1958), retailer[2]
- Sir Colin Syme (1903–1986), businessman[2]
- Col. P. W. Vaughan (1871–1945), banker
- William Irving Winter-Irving (1840–1901), pastoralist[2]
- Charles William Wren (1856–1934), banker[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d The Australian Club - Victorian Heritage Register
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p See Australian Dictionary of Biography under that head name
- ^ John Kennett (1981). Australian Dictionary of Biography: Fraser, Sir Colin (1875–1944). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
External links
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