This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Women will be allowed to sign up as members of Brisbane’s Tattersall’s club after a legal challenge failed on Thursday.

In a tight ballot that came down to 37 votes from almost 3,000 cast, members voted last year to open the club’s doors to women for the first time in its 150-year history.

But a small group refused to accept the result and went to the Brisbane supreme court, arguing on a technicality that members should be polled again.

Lawyers for a long-time member, Paul Hogan (not to be confused with the actor), told the court that club rules required membership numbers to be pre-printed on voting forms.

Tattersall's club: men-only venue narrowly votes to allow female members Read more

But they were not, and 96 votes were uncounted because forms had not been marked with a number, or were illegible.

Those arguments were dismissed by Justice Glenn Martin on Thursday.

He found the original vote fell within “substantial compliance” of the club’s rules. He also said he could not interfere with club affairs because it was an unincorporated association.

Speaking outside court on Thursday, Hogan said he was disappointed by the decision.

Before last year’s vote, the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk. said her ministers would continue to boycott the club until it changed its rule.

“In a state that has a female premier, deputy premier, opposition leader and chief justice, a club that seeks to engage community leaders but bans women from being members is out of step with community sentiment,” she said.

At the time, Tattersall’s president, Stuart Fraser, said he was all for women joining, with the club seeking a more “family-friendly” atmosphere.