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The Lansdowne Club was formed in 1986 by a group of Irish born business people living in Australia. At the time there were large numbers of professionally skilled Irish people taking up residence in Australia. There was no Irish business orientated focal point for these new arrivals and this void was then filled by the Lansdowne Club.
From the beginning it was essentially a business network. It provided the newly arrived with a meeting place where they could relax with people who had shared and understood their experiences. Membership was drawn from the business world and therefore the common bond was further accentuated.
The Club was built on a platform of one rule – membership was restricted to Irish born or Irish educated people living in Australia. In 1997 the Committee, following consultation with the members, extended membership to non Irish born or educated people while maintaining the essence of the Club. Non Irish born or educated applicants may be proposed by four existing members and will be reviewed by the Committee in order to determine the benefit that they can bring to the Club.
At our Members' Night in August 1997 function the Committee invited our first "new" member, Mr Chris Roberts, Managing Director of Arnotts Biscuits Limited, to join the Club.
The Club has developed significantly over the past twenty-one years. Today, many of our members hold significant positions within the largest corporations in Australia covering hundreds of industries. Our membership numbers are now close to 1,000 and are detailed in our publication "The Lansdowne Club Directory of Irish Business Contacts in Australasia" or within the Directory Pages of our website. The ninth edition of the directory is being issued in March 2008.
When the Club was established, there was no constitution and a Committee was formed to organise events. Membership of the Committee was by invitation and consequently the essence of the Club was maintained. The desire to be a part of the Lansdowne Club has grown over the years rather than diminished. There have been increased demands placed upon the Committee and in order to meet those demands, the Committee members felt it important that we should expand our base. As a consequence we approached a short list of experienced and respected people who warmly accepted our invitation to join the Committee. It speaks well for the Lansdowne Club that each of the people we asked so entusiastically accepted the invitation. Around this time it was also felt prudent to form an Association under the NSW Department of Fair Trading Act. This necessitated the formation of a Board and a constitution. The Role of the Board is to provide support to the Club. The Board ensures that the mission of the Club is maintained and it also provides guidance for future direction. The Board meets regularly.
A committee was appointed by the Board to oversee the management of the Club's affairs. This includes the maintenance of member information and this website and the organising of events. In effect, it is the working arm of the Board and at all times it is responsible to the Board.
An independent auditor was also appointed reporting to the Board. Care is taken not to accumulate funds beyond those required to ensure the orderly management of the Club's activities as we are not a profit oriented organisation and exist purely for the benefit of our members. Basically, we provide a friendly, enjoyable and open forum for Irish and Australian business people to socialise and network together.
