Establishment of Ranelagh Club

Ranelagh Club was established in 1925 and formed part of the Ranelagh Estate in Mount Eliza, Victoria, consisting of approximately 280 acres running at right angles from the coast of Port Phillip Bay.

The estate was designed by internationally renowned Chicago-born architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, with Saxil Tuxen, an established Melbourne surveyor and planner and founding member of the Victorian Town Planning Association.

Ranelagh Club was based on the model popular at that time in the USA, with the country club aspect an early experiment in bringing such arrangements to Australia.

By combining both a seaside resort and country club, Ranelagh was envisaged as a place where Melbourne’s successful professional people would build their holiday houses and enjoy the virtues of the exclusive land and water-based recreation activities.

The committee in 1926 resolved to form tennis courts, cricket grounds, a polo ground, areas for archery, hockey, croquet, bowling greens, and a nine-hole golf course, along with a two-storey beach building to house yachts and boats – the cost of which was £100. At this time, the club had a Flying Dutchman, 525s, a Cabo, and numerous Mirror yachts and sailing craft.

The eleven stars in the club’s logo represented each of the original eleven sporting events available at the club.