The Australian Club: Melbourne 1878-1998
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Tanning and foxing
For one hundred and twenty years, the Australian Club of Melbourne has stood as a bastion of colonial prestige and gentlemen's tradition, its grand staircase and chandelier-lit halls bearing silent witness to the forging of a nation. Paul de Serville's meticulous centenary history chronicles the club's remarkable journey from its founding in 1878 through to 1998, presenting a rich tapestry of Melbourne's social, political, and architectural heritage as seen through the lives of its distinguished membership. Drawing on private records, correspondence, and archival sources, de Serville reconstructs the inner world of one of Australia's most exclusive institutions, illuminating the networks of power, patronage, and privilege that shaped the city's ruling class. Beyond institutional history, this volume stands as a significant contribution to Australian social historiography, arguing that the story of the Club is inseparable from the story of Melbourne itself — its booms and busts, its imperial loyalties, and its evolving identity. Written with scholarly precision yet accessible elegance, de Serville's prose rewards both the serious historian and the casual reader with a curiosity for the lives lived behind closed doors. What began as a gentlemen's retreat has become an invaluable lens through which to understand the soul of a city — and the question of what Australia's elite chose to preserve, and what they quietly left behind, lingers long after the final page.
Author: Paul De Serville
Format: Hardback
Published: 1998, The Australian Club.
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Tanning and foxing
For one hundred and twenty years, the Australian Club of Melbourne has stood as a bastion of colonial prestige and gentlemen's tradition, its grand staircase and chandelier-lit halls bearing silent witness to the forging of a nation. Paul de Serville's meticulous centenary history chronicles the club's remarkable journey from its founding in 1878 through to 1998, presenting a rich tapestry of Melbourne's social, political, and architectural heritage as seen through the lives of its distinguished membership. Drawing on private records, correspondence, and archival sources, de Serville reconstructs the inner world of one of Australia's most exclusive institutions, illuminating the networks of power, patronage, and privilege that shaped the city's ruling class. Beyond institutional history, this volume stands as a significant contribution to Australian social historiography, arguing that the story of the Club is inseparable from the story of Melbourne itself — its booms and busts, its imperial loyalties, and its evolving identity. Written with scholarly precision yet accessible elegance, de Serville's prose rewards both the serious historian and the casual reader with a curiosity for the lives lived behind closed doors. What began as a gentlemen's retreat has become an invaluable lens through which to understand the soul of a city — and the question of what Australia's elite chose to preserve, and what they quietly left behind, lingers long after the final page.