Bye-bye, BOYS' CLUB

The Australian Club voted last year to keep its membership strictly male, but several other elite gentlemen's clubs have welcomed women. Cleo Glyde discovers what's behind the grand mahogany doors and infiltrates the dying bastion of male-dominated spaces

- Cleo Glyde

I'm ensconced in a brown leather chesterfield in one of Sydney's oldest private clubs. The very words conjure 19th-century alpha masculinity: cigar smoke spiralling in the air, glasses of brandy swirling in giant snifters, the "pock" of a billiard cue in the background. One would expect to discover a room full of men, partying like it's 1899. Instead, I'm chatting to several other females enjoying the historic space their membership gives them access to.

My father, John - who graduated alongside Germaine Greer, picketing in the 1960s for women to be able to drink in the same bar at his local pub - sponsored me for membership at his club, the Royal Automobile Club of Australia, and delighted in the ritual of passing the baton from father to daughter.

Established in 1903 as a motoring club, the affectionately dubbed RACA has its roots in a passion for cars. I had always loved visiting Dad there for lunch, kicking it old-school in the hushed atmosphere of this miraculously preserved building. Dining under the glorious, tinted glass of the sky-high ceiling in the Victoria Room or curling up with a Dark and Stormy cocktail in the Pioneers Room, lined with books and a (sigh) library ladder, the ferry tooting of Sydney's Circular Quay is, surreally, only minutes away outside.

Like so many male members before me, I can now say to business contacts, colleagues and friends "meet me at the RACA". Meetings with a copywriting client of mine, a female owner-founder of a $50 million company, would turn into riotous all-afternoon brainstorms: the peace, privacy, and surroundings reframed our work sessions as a convivial meeting of like-minded souls personal, but with the backup of welcoming support staff.