The club itself formed in 1882 and remains the oldest and one of the most exclusive in Australia. The club has played at a number of sites; the current site at Kensington dates to 1904-05 with a design by Jock Hutchison, Gilbert Martin and Carnegie Clark. Some of the holes were redesigned by Alister MacKenzie at about the same time that he designed Royal Melbourne, while in 1966, New Zealand-born architect Sloan Morpeth undertook a partial redesign made necessary by encroachment of a freeway. Jack Nicklaus oversaw a major redesign of the course in 1977; this design remains largely the same today. Hole measurements are in meters.

Contributing to the prestige of this course is that the Australian Open (the principal event on the PGA Australasian Tour) has been played here on a rotating basis 21 times.

Since the Australian is a private club, guests should be invited to play by a member of The Australian, unless they are from interstate or overseas, in which case they may be introduced by the General Manager. Manager-introduced guests should be affiliated with a recognised golf club or association, and hold a current membership identification card or letter of introduction from that organisation.