Rear Window

If only the walls could talk during The Australian Club’s repair work

The exclusive Sydney’s men’s hangout has closed its cellar door, as building works keep its walls standing.

Mark Di StefanoColumnist

Jul 7, 2025 – 5.46pm

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A defining feature of The Australian Club, one of Sydney’s most exclusive gentleman’s hangouts, is its shabby door at 165 Macquarie Street.

It’s a drab gateway abutting the city’s legal district, which surreptitiously welcomes former prime ministers, current business figures and judges: Malcolm Turnbull to David Gonski to Peter V’landys to Nicholas Moore (according to a 2023 leaked membership list).

Mark Di Stefano is Rear Window columnist, based in the Sydney newsroom. He previously worked at BuzzFeed, the Financial Times and The Information before joining the Financial Review as a media and tech correspondent.