The elite club is highly secretive and officials declined an interview request

James Packer and John Howard are said to be among them

Some of the leading lights of business and politics are members

New PM is a member of the Australian Club, a 'social and literary' group

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is a member of an exclusive club for gentlemen where he rubs shoulders with a who's who of the country's richest and most powerful men.

Mr Turnbull's press secretary confirmed the new Liberal leader is a member of the Australian Club, - a decadent Sydney social and literary club founded by some of the country's elite in 1838.

Frequented by powerbrokers, CEOs and millionaires whose hands have long been on the levers of power, many members who dine, drink, gossip and attend speeches at the club are big names.

The Packer family, former prime minister John Howard and former Fairfax chairman Roger Corbett are all said to be part of the club.

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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (left, with wife and former Sydney lord mayor Lucy right) is a member of the Australian Club

Former prime minister John Howard (left) and casino mogul James Packer (right) have been reported to be members of the elite, secretive club

A place for wine and fine dining! A fully set dinner table from the Australian Club on Macquarie St, which hosts functions and luncheons and is a place for members to relax

The Australian Club was once housed in this stately building near Macquarie St, Sydney. Picture reproduced with permission from the State Library Victoria

The club is located in a nondescript building on Macquarie St - the city's corridor of power

The elite clubhouse is highly secretive, repeatedly declining opportunities to speak to Daily Mail Australia about its activities and shying away from similar media attention in the past

The elite club is highly secretive, repeatedly declining opportunities to speak to Daily Mail Australia about its activities and shying away from similar media attention in the past.

But accounts published by those who have visited the premises on Macquarie St, Sydney, say it's not so much a place where rich men plot world domination.

Instead, they characterise it as a destination for members to kick back, relax, gossip and discuss big ideas.

'There was no evidence of ruling-class conspiracy or gin-soaked bluster,' author Malcolm Knox wrote in The Monthly magazine in 2009.

'Rather, this was a group of placid, low-key, almost childlike citizens who seemed somehow in retreat.

'(They were) finding their calm in a tranquil place of respite and asking questions about the world, over their surprisingly well-prepared salmon and vegetables.'

There are similar same-sex clubs elsewhere around the country, where men - and sometimes women - come together to drink, dine and sometimes exercise and sleep.

Member of a new club: Malcolm Turnbull is the 29th prime minister of Australia

Halls of power: Mr Turnbull (pictured with deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop) announces his new Cabinet on Sunday

James Packer (right) is said to be one of the latest of his family to be a member of the prestigious club

Among their number are the Savage Club in Melbourne and the all-female Queen's Club in Sydney.

The challenge of joining one of the institutions is not in membership fees, Mr Knox wrote, so much as 'the steeplechase of sponsoring and refereeing and vetting'.

Joining one of these clubs is said to involve 'years of interviews' and the testimony of several independent referees.

The Australian Club once resided at a stately CBD building home for much of its first century, but it has since been knocked down.

But it still resides on the city's corridor of power, sitting in a nondescript building adorned with the same classical interior charm just down the road from the State Parliament.

Contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Monday morning, club secretary Mark Anderson repeatedly said 'no comment'.

Asked to verify widely reported facts about the club, Mr Anderson said: 'No, honestly, we really don't make any comment.'

In the past seven days, Mr Turnbull enjoyed his first week in another elite club few Australians have had the honour to join.

He was appointed the 29th prime minister of Australia after ousting former leader Tony Abbott in a leadership contest.

The club sits on Sydney's corridor of power - Macquarie St- overlooking the Botanic Gardens and just a short skip down the road from State Parliament



