| Year | Date | Club (original name) | City | State | Status/League | Note |
| 1859 | May 14 | Melbourne Football Club | Melbourne | Victoria | Australian Football League | In 1859, members of the club published the first code of rules for Australian football on May 17, three days after club officially formed. Oldest club in the Australian Football League. |
| 1859 | <May 30 | St Kilda Football Club | St Kilda | Victoria | defunct | Not related to the current St Kilda Football Club (see South Yarra entry below). [1]. |
| 1859 | June 15 | Castlemaine Football Club* | Castlemaine | Victoria | Bendigo Football League | possibly dormant for periods [2] |
| 1859 | July 18 | Geelong Football Club | Geelong | Victoria | Australian Football League | One of the founding members of both the VFA and VFL. |
| 1859 | | Melbourne University Football Club* | Melbourne | Victoria | VAFA | disbanded for some time after World War I, leaving the VFL, then reformed with multiple teams the VAFA |
| 1860 | May 20 | Ballarat Football Club* | Ballarat | Victoria | Ballarat Football League | established as junior club. Senior club established in 1862[3] |
| 1861 | June 3 | Sandhurst Football Club | Bendigo | Victoria | Bendigo Football League | [4], Alleged to have been founded by J.B. Thompson, one of the inventors of Australian rules football |
| 1862 | | Modbury Football Club | Adelaide | South Australia | South Australian Amateur Football League | Played its first game against an Adelaide team at Modbury in 1862[5] |
| 1862 | | Williamstown Club | Williamstown | Victoria | defunct | The first of two Williamstown clubs |
| 1863* | | Sydney University Australian National Football Club | University of Sydney, Sydney | New South Wales | Sydney AFL | SUANFC claims to be a spin-off of Australia's oldest rugby union club, Sydney University Football Club, which experimented with Australian rules in its early years. If the claim is accepted, this would make SUANFC the oldest Australian rules football club in NSW, although it did not play an inter-club fixture until 1887. |
| 1864* | | South Yarra Football Club | South Yarra, Melbourne | Victoria | defunct | Merged with the St Kilda Cricketers' Club in 1873 to form the present-day St Kilda Football Club.[3] |
| 1864 | | Williamstown Football Club | Williamstown | Victoria | Victorian Football League | |
| 1864 | July | Carlton Football Club | Carlton | Victoria | Australian Football League | [6] |
| 1866 | April 18 | Kapunda Football Club | Kapunda | South Australia | Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association | |
| 1866 | | Brisbane Australian Football Club* | Brisbane | Queensland | defunct | No connection to Brisbane Bears or Brisbane Lions [7] |
| 1868 | | Woodville Football Club* | Adelaide | South Australia | defunct | Club disbanded in 1877. Club with same name later formed in 1938. |
prior to
1868 | | Wharehousemen Football Club | Melbourne | Victoria | defunct | |
| 1869 | | North Melbourne Football Club | North Melbourne | Victoria | Australian Football League | Founded as the North Melbourne Football Club in 1869. Amalgamated with Albert Park to form Albert Park cum North Melbourne in 1876. Reformed as the Hotham Football Club in 1877. Reverted back to the name North Melbourne Football Club in 1888. |
| 1870 | May 13 | Port Adelaide Football Club | Port Adelaide | South Australia | Australian Football League | Formerly played in the SANFL as the Port Adelaide Magpies until 1997 before awarded a licence to enter the AFL in 1996. Entered AFL in 1997 as the "Power". A new club known as the Port Adelaide Magpies Football Club was formed in 1997 to fill its void in the SANFL |
| 1870 | | Volunteer Artillery* | Brisbane | Queensland | defunct | |
| 1870 | | Brisbane Grammar School Football Club'* | Brisbane | Queensland | defunct | New junior club established in 2005 to participate in Queensland Independent Schools Australian Football League |
| 1870 | | Civil Service Football Club* | Brisbane | Queensland | defunct | |
| 1870 | | Ipswich Football Club* | Ipswich | Queensland | defunct | |
| 1871 | | Ararat Football Club* | Ararat | Victoria | now Wimmera Football League | |
| 1872 | | Kensington Football Club* | Adelaide | South Australia | defunct | Possibly formed earlier. Folded in 1881 |
| 1873 | | Albert Park Football Club | Albert Park | Victoria | defunct | last season was in 1970. Another club which continues has its origins in the 1920s and now uses the same name. |
| 1873 | | Essendon Football Club | Essendon | Victoria | Australian Football League | |
| 1873 | April 2 | St Kilda Football Club | St Kilda | Victoria | Australian Football League | [8] |
| 1873 | | Hawthorn Football Club* | Hawthorn | Victoria | Australian Football League | The continuity of clubs with this name is disputed. The existing Hawthorn Football Club is purported to have formed in 1901. |
| 1874 | June 8 | Rochester Football Club | Rochester | Victoria | Goulburn Valley Football League | |
| 1874 | | Willunga Football Club | Willunga | South Australia | Great Southern Football League | 1877 foundation member of SAFA - which became SANFL.[9] |
| 1874 | | South Melbourne Football Club | South Melbourne | Victoria | Australian Football League | now Sydney Swans |
| 1874 | | Port Melbourne Football Club | Port Melbourne | Victoria | Victorian Football League | |
| 1874 | | Penshurst Football Club | Penshurst | Victoria | Now playing in Mininera Football League | |
| 1875 | July 16 | Launceston Football Club | Launceston | Tasmania | Northern Tasmanian Football League | [10] |
| 1876 | | South Adelaide Football Club | Adelaide | South Australia | SANFL | Merged with a club of the same name to form the modern club in 1876 |
| 1876 | | Inglewood Football Club | Inglewood | Victoria | Loddon Valley Football League | [11] |
| 1876 | | Heidelberg Football Club | Heidelberg | Victoria | Northern Football League | |
| 1877 | | Beechworth Football Club | Beechworth | Victoria | Tallangatta & District Football League | |
| 1877 | | Footscray Football Club | Footscray | Victoria | Australian Football League | now known as "Western Bulldogs" |
| 1878 | | Norwood Football Club | Adelaide | South Australia | SANFL | |
| 1879 | | West Melbourne Football Club | West Melbourne | Victoria | defunct | merged with North Melbourne Football Club |
| 1878 | | New Norfolk District Football Club | New Norfolk | Tasmania | Southern Football League (Tasmania) | |
| 1879 | March 27 | Reform Football Club | Wellington | New Zealand | defunct | |
| 1881 | | Unions Football Club* | Fremantle | Western Australia | defunct | |
| 1881 | | Murchison Football Club | Murchison | Victoria | Kyabram District Football League | |
| 1881 | | North Hobart Football Club | North Hobart | Tasmania | Southern Football League (Tasmania) | |
| 1882 | | Fremantle Football Club | Fremantle | Western Australia | defunct | No relation to the present-day club by the same name. Formed as a rugby club but switched to Australian rules in 1883. |
| 1883 | September | Fitzroy Football Club | Fitzroy | Victoria | dormant/non-playing | playing operations merged with the Brisbane Bears in 1996, but the club continues to trade as standalone entity |
| 1885 | | Richmond Football Club | Richmond | Victoria | Australian Football League | Currently known as the Richmond Tigers. |
| 1885 | | Rovers Football Club | Perth | Western Australia | defunct | Inaugural premiers of the WA competition in 1885 and again in 1891. Disbanded in 1899. |
| 1885 | | Victorians Football Club | West Perth | Western Australia | West Australian Football League | In 1889, the club changed its name to Metropolitans and in 1891 to West Perth, the name by which it is still known. |
| 1889 | | Cranbourne Football Club | Cranbourne | Victoria | Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League | |
| 1892 | | Collingwood Football Club | Melbourne | Victoria | Australian Football League | VFA 1892-1896; VFL/AFL 1897-current 14 VFL/AFL Premierships |
| 1892 | | Corryong Football Club* | Corryong | Victoria | Upper Murray Football League | Upper Murray Football League: 1893-1915; 1918-1940; 1945-Present. (31 Premierships) |
| 1892 | | Cudgewa Football Club* | Cudgewa | Victoria | Upper Murray Football League | Upper Murray Football League: 1893-1915; 1918-1940; 1945-Present. (28 Premierships) |
| 1892 | | Fedeal Football Club* | Corryong | Victoria | Upper Murray Football League | Upper Murray Football League: 1893-1915; 1918-1940; 1945-Present. (26 Premierships)
NAME:Mount Elliot FC; (1892-1900) Federal FC (1901-Present)
BASED:Mount Elliot, Vic (1892-1903) Corryong, Vic (1904-Present) |
| 1900 | | South Fremantle Football Club | Fremantle | Western Australia | West Australian Football League | WAFL 1900-current 12 WAFL Premierships |
| 1910 | | Yeronga Football Club | Yeronga | Queensland | AFLQ State Association | Originally known as South Brisbane[4] |
| 1924 | | Mayne Australian Football Club | Everton Hills | Queensland | AFLQ State Association (division 2) | formed as a junior club and became senior club in 1925 |
| 1947 | | Morningside Australian Football Club | Morningside | Queensland | AFLQ State League | [5] |
| 1956 | | University of Queensland Australian Football Club | St Lucia | Queensland | AFLQ State Association | [6] |
| 1961 | | Southport Australian Football Club | Southport | Queensland | AFLQ State League | [7] |
| 1970 | | Broadbeach Australian Football Club | Broadbeach | Queensland | AFLQ State League | [8] |
| 1970 | | Mt Gravatt Australian Football Club | Mt Gravatt | Queensland | AFLQ State League | |
| 1971 | | Dysart Australian Football Club* | Dysart | Queensland | Central Queensland Highlands AFL Defunct League | Club still continues but has no league to play in |
| 1981 | | Brothers Rockhampton Roos AFC | Rockhampton | Queensland | AFL Capricornia | |
| 1986 | | Brisbane Bears | Brisbane | Queensland | Australian Football League | 1987-1996, then merged with Fitzroy to form the Brisbane Lions |
| 1986 | | West Coast Eagles | Perth | Western Australia | Australian Football League | 1987-current, 3 premierships |
| 1990 | | Adelaide Football Club | Adelaide | South Australia | Australian Football League | 1990-current, 2 premierships |
| 1995 | | Fremantle Football Club | Fremantle | Western Australia | Australian Football League | 1995-current |
| 1996 | | Brisbane Lions | Brisbane | Queensland | Australian Football League | 1997-current, merger of Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears |
| 1996 | | Peel Thunder | Mandurah | Western Australia | West Australian Football League | 1997-current[12] |
