Australian Dictionary of Biography

Cecile Storey, 1979

Courtesy of the Storey Family

Cecile Eunice Storey (1933–1997), schoolteacher, Liberal Party organiser, feminist, and internationalist, was born on 10 September 1933 at Ballarat, Victoria, eldest of three daughters of Charles Henry Benjamin, engineer, and his wife Eunice, née Bowley, both Victorian born. Contrary to its spelling, her first name was pronounced ‘Cecily,’ and throughout her life she was known simply as ‘Cec.’ In the early 1940s the family relocated to Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. She was educated (1944–50) at Methodist Ladies’ College (MLC), Kew, where teachers considered her to be a pleasant and conscientious student, and she held various leadership positions. Despite some family opposition to her pursuing further study, in 1952 she enrolled to study commerce at the University of Melbourne (BCom, 1956), being one of only five women in her year.

After leaving university, Benjamin worked as a statistician for Preston Motors, then travelled in November 1956 to London, where she found temporary employment as a schoolteacher. Keen to see more of the world, she posted a notice at Australia House in the hope of finding travelling companions and, together with four other adventurous young women, embarked on a road trip around Europe. Along the way her interest in international politics was aroused when she visited the United Nations offices in Geneva. She arrived back in Australia in October 1957. The next year, on 6 September at Deepdene Methodist Church, North Balwyn, she married Haddon Storey, a barrister and solicitor whom she had met through mutual friends. The couple were to have three sons: Lyndon (1961), Rohan (1963), and Donal (1965).

Disappointed by the lack of opportunities for women in the world of commerce, Storey reoriented herself professionally and embarked on a career in education, completing a teacher’s certificate at the Associated Teachers’ Training Institute (Mercer House) in 1958. While caring for her family, she worked part time at various independent schools in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, including Camberwell Girls’ Grammar School (1958–61), Box Hill Grammar School (1962), and MLC (1967). In 1968 she settled at Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School, Canterbury (full time from 1973), where she taught legal studies and politics until 1988. Bringing ‘energy, creativity and commitment to everything she did’ (Forde 1997), she took students—and often her sons—to Canberra to witness Federal parliament firsthand. In the 1970s she undertook further teaching training at Monash University (DipEd, 1972) and La Trobe University (BEd, 1978). Active in education work beyond the classroom, she was involved in writing curricula, conducting examinations, and participating in industry bodies such as the Victorian Association of Teachers in Independent Schools (president 1981–82). She was also a council member (1976–88) and deputy chancellor (1981–83) of La Trobe University.

Over time Storey’s leadership extended into what was typically considered her husband’s domain of politics. A Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1971 to 1996, Haddon Storey was a minister in both the Hamer and Kennett governments. Cecile promoted the status of women within the Victorian division of the Liberal Party and was considered ‘a force’ (Strong 1981, 3) of its progressive wing, being elected metropolitan woman vice-president in 1973. But she was not content to work only behind the scenes. At the 1974 Federal election she contested the safe Labor seat of Gellibrand. She then nominated unsuccessfully for preselection for the Senate in 1976 and for the seat of Kew at the 1981 Victorian State election. Despite not securing elective office, she continued to seek influence on political decision making and often had an opinion to share, especially at Liberal Party State council conferences. She also hosted segments on radio in the Liberal Party’s timeslot.

Storey’s politics were shaped by her feminism, and her work for women’s rights was characteristically wide and varied. A prominent member of the Family Planning Association of Victoria, she was its vice president (1978–81) and later president (1981–84). She was also the women’s representative (1976–82) on the National Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation and served (1975–77) on the Victorian Committee on Equal Opportunity in Schools. Storey lobbied for the introduction of what became the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 1977, which her husband helped draft in his role as attorney-general. Her insistence on equal rights for women teachers and her requests for time off to attend meetings often brought her into conflict with Strathcona’s principal.

Like many feminists of her era, Storey was a committed internationalist. For more than three decades she was deeply involved in the United Nations Association of Australia, becoming president of its Victorian branch in the 1970s before serving as national president (1979–83). Guided by a strong sense of justice and equality, in 1981 she condemned the Federal Liberal-National government’s administration of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, which she wrote was making ‘a mockery of its commitment to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’ (Storey 1981, 12). She represented Australian women at both official and unofficial meetings held under the banner of the World Conferences on Women, in Mexico City (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995).

Considered ‘a committed and tireless leader’ and ‘a loyal friend to many’ (Herald Sun 1997, 65), Storey had blonde hair, wore pink glasses, exuded confidence, and always made sure she had people’s full attention. In her leisure time she enjoyed tennis, swimming, gardening, films, and theatre. Appointed AM in 1984, she retired from public life in the early 1990s due to ill health. Survived by her husband, her three sons, and her sisters Alison and Rosemary, she died on 1 April 1997 at Hawthorn and was buried in Creswick cemetery. She was added to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2004, and the Cecile Storey award for outstanding women delegates at the United Nations Youth Association annual conference was named for her.