History
The ISC’s first premises were in Penzance Chambers at 29 Elizabeth Street, Sydney. These were secured and furnished at the end of 1917 by a committee of returned officers who “felt the need and realised the national value of such an institution”. The first ideas for this institution may have emerged from the Oxford Hotel at the corner of King and Phillip Streets, a regular meeting house for the Royal New South Wales Lancers.
An early Club document proclaimed, “It is scarcely possible to emphasise too strongly the necessity for such a Club as this, which will be a rallying point for the Officers who have served and will bind them into one strong united body, which they certainly were on service”. The objects of the Club were stated as: I) Social; II) Preserve the Friendships formed on Service; III) Maintain the Patriotic Spirit which made the AIF.
According to a fund-raising document issued in 1919, the qualifications for ISC membership were “Commissioned rank in HM Naval or Military Forces, and Active Service in a War of the Empire”. It was also intended to later admit those officers who were not of military age during the First World War, “including graduates of Duntroon Military and Jervis Bay Naval Colleges”.
The second floor of the Elizabeth Street building was fitted out to include a Smoking and Reading Room, a Billiards Room with one table, Dining and Card Rooms, and a Lounge. A dormitory and servants’ quarters were provided on the fifth floor.
Read more about this topic: Imperial Service Club
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)
“The true theater of history is therefore the temperate zone.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!
There are only two great currents in the history of mankind: the baseness which makes conservatives and the envy which makes revolutionaries.”
—Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)