Club offers touch of class

Fernhill was built for a pioneer whaler, sealer and merchant. Kim Dungey reports.

The mansion the Dunedin Club occupies was built by the colourful whaler, runholder and trader, Johnny Jones, in 1867.

Fernhill contained 25 rooms, including a large drawing room with north-facing windows, and cost 7750 to build - an enormous sum of money at a time when labour was cheap.

Built of Oamaru stone, it was an imposing structure worthy of one of the most prominent figures in colonial New Zealand.

Jones had arrived from Sydney well before the first official settlers, buying the Preservation Inlet whaling station when he was just 25 and soon gaining an interest in several others.

By 1838, he owned the area which became Waikouaiti.

Later, he took up land in various parts of Otago and became a major figure in shipping and trading.

His home base was Matanaka but in 1854 he moved to Dunedin, partly for the sake of the education of his youngest children.

It was Jones' wife, Sarah, who bought the Melville St land and its modest dwelling from the first owner, Captain Edmund Bellairs.

However, she did not live long enough to see the new house completed and Jones himself died only two years after moving in.

Later, Fernhill was leased to the Government as a residence for the governor and any other distinguished visitor who might need accommodation.

The Dunedin Club was formed in 1858 when Dunedin was a growing town short of comfortable accommodation.

The first members were from the Squatters Association, a group of runholders who wanted to avoid Dunedin's boisterous hotels when they visited town for supplies.

After originally renting premises in Maclaggan St and later operating from the Commercial Hotel, the club took over Fernhill in 1874 and immediately added a rear extension which included a large billiard room with bedrooms above.

Club members had a large amount of influence on the growth and development of Dunedin, their ranks including cabinet ministers, mayors, judges, bishops, university chancellors and one prime minister, Sir Julius Vogel.

Some famous people were also entertained at Fernhill.

These included three future kings of England and Antarctic explorers, such as Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Richard Byrd.

The house was designed by David Ross, a member of the first Dunedin City Council, who was also responsible for the Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics' Institute in the Octagon.

Gordon Parry relaxes in the comfortable bar of the Dunedin Club and recalls the biggest change in the club's history.

In 2000, after many years of debate, it finally decided to admit women as full members.

Mr Parry, author of the club history and a member for 45 years, says it was a proper introduction to the 21st century for the club.

But even now, women make up only 35 of the 420 members.

While the club had always been "pretty liberal" about having women attend special functions, it was not until the 1950s that they were allowed to dine there three evenings a week, he adds.

The late Murray Sidey was the first to take his wife but when he introduced her to one member, the man turned his back on Betty Sidey, stomped off and was later heard to complain that it was "monstrous" to have women on the premises.

In the dining room, screens were placed around the couple so as not to disturb the gentlemen having dinner nearby.

Opening its doors to women was a controversial move but physical changes have been more subtle.

One reason the property has lost little of its original character is that the major alterations took place about 1875, before architectural styles changed.