WA Clubs

Perth Clubs

[[../organisations/agricsoc.html|Agricultural Society]].

Exchange Club, 15 November 1893, leased 1893-1897 Lionel Samson's house, NW corner of Barrack Street and St George's Terrace until it was sold (in 1895). Became the West Australian Club in 1897.

Karrakatta Club (1894) moved to Lawson Apartments in 1984, then ANZAC House on the Terrace. Founded by Edith Cowan, inter alia. Became the RSL. See its history (pdf).

[[../organisations/modernwomensclub.html|Modern Women's Club]], started by Katharine Susannah Prichard.

Penguin Club. Founded in Sydney in 1937. The first meeting of the Western Australian Branch was held in Perth on the 8th June 1945. One of the first organisations to give women the opportunity to develop communication skills, in an era when women were not active in public life.

Perth Club, est. 1883 as an alternative to the Weld Club.

Rotary Club, initiated by Sir William Lathlain, businessman, parliamentarian and Lord Mayor of Perth.

Thatched Roof Club, Augusta, c. 1832, of which Alfred Bussell was secretary. See Wendy Birman, ‘Alfred Bussell’, ADB, 3.

Turf Club, founded 1852.

Union Club, 1834.

Weld Club, est. 1871, leased 1875-1892 Lionel Samson's house, NW corner of Barrack Street and St George's Terrace, then moved to its own premises, 3 Barrack Street, cnr The Esplanade.

Western Australia Club. 1840-42. This was really just an eating-house or hotel under another name, thus avoiding the rules which applied to licensed premises. It was conducted by one Embleton.

West Australian Club, est. 1897, based on its predecessor Exchange Club, occupied Sir William Thorley Loton's (original) house at 46 St George's Terrace, next to the Samson House; a new building was constructed for the club on that site, opening in 1907; the club remained at that address until 1970, when it moved to 18 The Esplanade 1970-1996, moving again to 101 St George's Terrace, changing its name to The West Australian Club Inc. in 1979; the club moved again into Level 11, 12 St George's Terrace in 2014; it went into liquidation in 2018; a new organisation called The Western Australian Club Heritage was formed

Clubs Elsewhere

Albany

The Albany Club is the second oldest gentlemen's club in the state (after the Weld Club), having been founded in 1890. It is aka Aberdeen House.

Albany Agricultural Society, 88 Cockburn Road, Centennial Park WA 6330 (1889).

Guildford

(Guildford) [[../organisations/agricsoc.html|Agricultural Society]] (later Royal ...)

(Kangaroo) Hunt Club. See Alexandra Hasluck, Portrait with Background (1955), for a brief mention. The members hunted kangaroos.

Kalgoorlie

Hannans Club, 44 Brookman Street, Kalgoorlie.

Kalgoorlie Country Club, 108 Egan Street.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club.

References and Links

Cramond, Joan 1998, And So To Speak: A History of the Penguin Club in Western Australia, Penguin Club, Perth.

de Mori, Caroline 1990, A Club for All Seasons: A History of the Western Australian Club (Inc), WA Club.

de Serville, Paul 2003, 3 Barrack Street: The Weld Club 1871-2002, Helicon, Wahroonga. (This book builds on and incorporates two earlier volumes written by former president T. S. Louch.)

Firkins, Peter 1987, A History of the Rotary Club of Perth 1927-1987, Rotary Club, Perth.

Gelder, Ken & Rachael Weaver 2020, The Colonial Kangaroo Hunt, Miegunyah Press (does not mention Western Australia).

Stannage, Tom 1979, The People of Perth: A Social History of Western Australia's Capital City, PCC.

WA Club Heritage website.

Weld Club website, Heritage Council page.

Wikipedia page for the Weld Club.

Wikipedia page for the Western Australian Club.

Wikipedia page for the Karrakatta Club.

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 23 August, 2021 and hosted at freotopia.org/clubs/perthclubs.html (it was last updated on 15 April, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.