President of the Club, Rhys Howitt said that he and the Club’s Secretary, Anna McCormack, had gone exhaustively through ancient boxes in a dusty old room to come up with some fascinating stuff.

Formed in 1877 by a group of whist players The Goulburn Club is Goulburn’s oldest registered club.

It has been at the current building since 1883, which dates back to about 1840.

“There’s a lot more material than I would have expected,” Mr Howitt said.

“There are some wonderful stories, and lots of detail for the history buffs too.”

He said that the Club has the minute books from 1950 up until now, and that he would love to locate the earlier books.

It also still has its old membership registers and many of the old accounts.

Mr Howitt prepared a poster showing the building’s architectural progression over the decades, including the extensive remodelling by Goulburn architect E.C. Manfred and his son.

“The lovely old-world features of the Club were mostly installed in 1927,” Mr Howitt said.

The Manfred plans are undated, and at first he thought they must be much more recent, showing rolled steel joint beams and provision for an “automatic electric lift”.

But the Club still has the tender specification and the contract, so the wonderful art deco woodwork clearly dates from then.

Originally, the Goulburn Club was “a social club for gentlemen” – exclusive and expensive in nature.

In the early 1980s, high mortgage interest rates saw many registered clubs close.

The Goulburn Club, which had no gaming machines, was (and still is) reliant on bar sales and functions.

The Club recognised that it was no longer tenable to be just a social club for gentlemen, and started looking for a new role.

Committee volunteers began to replace paid staff.

Many difficult years followed, and the Club would have failed if it were not so small – it was still possible for individuals to make a big difference.

By 2000, everything had been tried and the Club was still deeply in debt.

The Club closed for eight months, before a group of keen members revived it. Amongst other things, they re-built the splendid Manfred veranda that had been pulled down by order of Council in 1962.

Many more difficult years followed, but in recent years the Club has been trading profitably.

Now all the staff are voluntary, and the Club has a strong live-music focus, becoming an important venue for touring artists and the annual Blues Festival.

“Most of Goulburn doesn’t know we exist,” Mr Howitt said.

“The Club has a wonderful ambience, whether for summer drinks on the verandah overlooking the park, or cosy fires in winter. It’s Goulburn’s bestkept secret.”

The History of the Goulburn Club exhibition will be opened tonight by Mayor Geoff Kettle at 7pm.

There is no entry fee.

Accompanying the exhibit will be a “Back to the Goulburn Club” night for past members tomorrow night from 5pm.

For more information on the exhibition or the Goulburn Club, see www.goulburnclub.com.au.