Premier of NSW
John Storey was born on the 15th May 1869 at Shoalhaven in NSW, and moved at the age of 6 to Balmain in Sydney, where he took up at the age of 14 an apprenticeship in boilermaking. He worked as a journeyman at Mort’s Dock in Balmain and was active in the social and sporting life of the community, joining the Labour Party in 1891. he married Elizabeth Merton Turnbull in the same year.
In 1901 Storey accepted the Labor nomination for the seat of Balmain, though characteristically he was reluctant to take on the responsibility. He became a popular and well-respected member of the Parliament, and though he lost his seat to a sectarian challenge in 1904, he won it back in 1907.
In the first NSW Labor Government Storey became Chairman of the Standing Committee on Public Works, and though not in Cabinet, was a confidant of Premier McGowan. During the years of war under the Premiership of William Holman, John Storey continued in his reluctance to lead, an unwillingness made more intense by the deep divisions in the Labor Party. In 1916 Storey was very briefly leader of the Cabinet during a tactical battle between Holman and Conference, though he was not sworn in as Premier. It was not until Premier Holman with many other pro-conscriptionists was expelled from the Party in late 1916 that Storey was pressed to become Leader of the Labor Opposition.
Through the tumultuous years of the 1917 General Strike and the radicalism of the immediately post-war era, Storey did everything in his power to keep a moderate, reformist nature to the ALP. He fought the influence of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) fiercely, and did his best to project a down-to-earth, pragmatic image more concerned with cricket and football than revolt and revolution.
When the ALP won narrowly the 1920 elections Storey became Premier, and he displayed a commitment to political tolerance and pluralism by appointing a Royal Commission into the jailing of a number of IWW members on politicised charges. They were released.
In 1921, Storey made an official visit to England with the double purpose of fundraising for the State and visiting a medical specialist for his own worsening health. He returned to Sydney in July 1921 but died in Darlinghurst on the 5th October 1921.