A woman who worked for one of Australia’s most exclusive men-only clubs – where females are forbidden to join and can only dine there as guests – is suing the 128-year-old institution for sex discrimination.
Sharyne Railton, who worked as a members’ service manager at the elite Melbourne Savage Club for four months this year, is suing for more than $30,000 in damages.
Her lawsuit filed in the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne and seen by Daily Mail Australia, cites Savage Club General Manager Sarath Fernando as allegedly discriminating against her and others.
Ms Railton claims she was fired after she wrote a written complaint to the club’s president Graeme Billings.
The invitation-only establishment tucked away in behind Melbourne’s Collins Street has walls adorned with portraits of past presidents such as Australia’s longest-serving prime minister Sir Robert Menzies. Intead of aircon, the club has punkahs, the hand-operated ceiling ‘fans’ of colonial India.
Elite Savage Club’s former member services manager Sharyne Railton is suing the mens-only establishment for sex discrimination and bullying after she claims she was yelled at then sacked
The invitation-only establishment tucked away in behind Melbourne’s Collins Street is a bastion for Melbourne judges, barristers, company executives and powerbrokers, but only if they’re male
Ms Railton told The Australian that she and other female staff were bullied and yelled at inside the strict jacket-and-tie dress rule club, which is a bastion for Melbourne’s male judges, barristers, company executives and powerbrokers.
When Daily Mail Australia phoned the establishment, a female staffer said the club could make ‘no comment at all’.
When she started work at the Club, Ms Railton had written on her LinkedIn profile that the Savage Club was a ‘fascinating and unique mens’ club originally set up in order for artists, musicians and performing artists to network with potential patrons’.
Members have included Liberal Party stalwarts, including onetime Victorian premier Ted Baillieu, Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger, comedian Barry Humphries and historian Geoffrey Blainey.
The dining room of the exclusive Savage Club (above) has punkahs, the hand-operated ceiling ‘fans’ of colonial India, instead of air conditioning.
Past members include the late Melbourne Racing Club chairman Peter Lawrence, broadcaster Alan McGilvray, former prime ministers Billy Hughes and Joseph Lyons, and painters Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Fred McCubbin and William Dargie.
The most prominent member, Robert Menzies, was also the club’s longest-serving president, from 1947 to 1962, flying back and forth from the Lodge in Canberra to club functions and meetings of the club’s wine committee.
The Club has its own motto, Harmonia et Sodalitas (Harmony and Brotherhood) and even has its own anthem, a ‘boys’ drinking song which is sung to drum in new members.
Former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu (above with his wife Robyn) and several Australian prime ministers have been members of Melbourne’s Savage Club
Comedian Barry Humphries and a long list of performers, artists and prime ministers have been club members, along with Liberal Party powerbrokers such as former Victorian party president Michael Kroger
Named after Richard Savage, an 18th century English poet who ended up in jail, it and its brother club in London were originally seen as a bolthole for ‘bohemian gentleman’ to meet or gather to go out on shooting or other excursions.
During the 1980s a challenge to admit women into its 500-strong membership of ‘Brother Savages’ was successfully headed off.
One of its most enthusiastic members was the late scallywag businessman and onetime state and federal Liberal Party president and Carlton Football Club president, John Elliott.
When a bankrupt Elliott was ousted for some unstated reason after 32 years of membership in 2005, members were tight-lipped and refused to talk.
A former club president John Tidey (a onetime Age newspaper executive) told the Financial Review at the time, ‘We have a long-standing convention that what goes on within the club stays there. We certainly don’t talk about individual members.’
The Savage Club’s walls are adorned with portraits of past presidents, such as this painting of Australia’s longest-serving prime minister Sir Robert Menzies, which hangs in the Long Room
Liberal Party and Carlton Football Club president was ousted in 2005 for unstated reasons from the club which said it had ‘a long-standing convention that what goes on within the club stays there’
Melbourne human rights barrister Julian Burnside was forced to quit the club under election pressure as a Greens candidate that the men only establishment was an anachronism
In 2019, then Greens candidate and Melbourne human rights barrister Julian Burnside was forced to quit the club under election pressure that it was an example of traditional male dominance and prestige and that ‘same-sex only clubs are a relic of the past’.
Sharyne Railton’s claims of the inner working s of the club via her lawsuit are understood to be unwelcome.
During her time there, the Savage club hosted meetings of societies, and drinks in the Savage’s small upstairs bar.
An alternative dispute resolution officer and mediation counsellor, Ms Railton’s tenure at the Savage Club included co-ordinating the desktop-publishing of the weekly club newsletter and the club menu for musical and black tie events, as well as processing membership applications, taking reservations and secretarial duties.
She is claiming ten weeks loss of a $63, 900 annual salary, plus compensation and damages.
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