A Story to remember

Perhaps few people crossing Brisbane’s Story Bridge today know the story of the man the bridge is named after – one of Brisbane Grammar School’s most influential Old Boys, Queensland public servant John Douglas (JD) Story.

When he left BGS at 15 for a clerk’s job in the education department, JD Story himself was unlikely to have foreseen the impact he would have on Queensland’s growth and development.

The year was 1885, and Brisbane Grammar School Headmaster Reginald Heber Roe recommended JD for the clerk’s role. Story’s employer noted: “nice intelligent look – rather small and lean and does not look robust. Brain…stronger than body.”

Clearly industrious, JD eventually became Under Secretary of the Department, overseeing the opening of Queensland’s first state high schools in 1912, raising the school leaving age from 12 to 14, and introducing medical and dental examinations in State schools.

As the son of Scottish migrants, one of seven children who was out earning at 15, JD Story was proud to have made education more widely available, writing in 1915: “Secondary education in Queensland is free to those who prove their fitness…it is just as possible for the son of the wharf-labourer, the sugar-worker or the shearer to enjoy a full course of secondary education as for the son of the shipowner, the sugar-planter or the station-owner.”

JD Story

Recognised for his ability to get things done, JD Story was asked to conduct a Royal Commission into public service wages and allowances. Subsequently serving as public service commissioner from 1920-39, Story founded the Council of Agriculture and was a member of the Bureau of Industry, responsible for the building of UQ at St Lucia, Somerset Dam, and the bridge named in his honour in 1940.

JD sent his sons John Dunmore Campbell Story ‘27 and Keith Campbell Story ’28 to BGS. This second John Story became a solicitor and senior partner of Chambers McNab and Company.

Advancing Queensland education remained a lifelong interest for JD. With his former Headmaster Roe, he championed the establishment of The University of Queensland in 1910 and served on its Senate for 50 years. After retiring from the public service in 1939, he became UQ’s first fulltime Vice Chancellor, an unpaid role he held for 21 years.

Seventy years later in 2009, JD’s grandson, the third John Story to attend BGS, would become Chancellor of the university his grandfather had worked to establish.

John Story AO '63 speaks at The University of Queensland.

John Story AO ’63 followed his father John Dunmore Campbell Story to BGS, studied Law at UQ and was National Chairman of Corrs Chambers Westgarth. He had an extensive directorial career including the chairmanship of Suncorp Group Limited and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015 for distinguished service to business and commerce in the public and private sectors.

In a development that would have no doubt pleased his grandfather, John was named UQ Alumni of the year in 2017, following his tenure as Chancellor, and for chairing the TC Beirne School of Law fundraising committee to fund the renovation of the Forgan Smith Building.

A fourth generation of the Story family came to BGS when John and his wife Georgina sent their sons John ’91, Tom ’93 and Bill ’95. All three have followed their father in studying Law at UQ, with John now working in finance, Tom as a solicitor and Bill in the public service in Canberra.