The bequest of an intriguing Australian artwork celebrates the man behind RMIT’s longest-running scholarship program and deepens the family’s continuing ties with the University. It also set off some serious sleuthing by RMIT’s Art Collection team.
When grandchildren of Sir John Storey contacted RMIT to donate a portrait of their grandfather, Art Collections Coordinator Nick Devlin had to do a double take.
“I was pretty sure we had the real McCoy of Sir John stored away in our collection, but in identifying the newly donated portrait we had to do a lot of detective work,” said Devlin.
It turns out the artwork he knew well was a copy of the original portrait, painted by eight-time Archibald Prize winner William Dargie and donated to RMIT by the family in 1956.
The original portrait of Sir John was painted in 1954, the same year Dargie painted his famous ‘wattle painting’ portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Fearing the Queen’s portrait would be lost or damaged in transit from England to Australia, Dargie painted a copy. Both paintings arrived unscathed and Dargie later painted a third for the Queen, at her request. The John Storey portrait is the only other instance of Dargie painting a copy.
“It gives us a unique insight into Dargie’s techniques and provides an important teaching and learning opportunity for our students,” said Devlin.
The portrait was in the possession of Sir John’s daughter Judy Cope-Williams when she passed away late in 2022. It had been part of the glue that held the family together, said Judy’s son Mike Cope-Williams.
“It always occupied the most revered spot in the house and watched over us,” he remembered. “We agreed RMIT was the place for it, it seemed right.”
The family has maintained strong links with RMIT since 1944, when Sir John, a pioneer of Australia’s automotive and aircraft industries, was vice president of RMIT’s precursor Melbourne Technical College. His eldest son John Storey Jnr was a mechanical engineering student at the time and was inaugural president of the Student Representative Council before his death from leukemia in 1947 aged just 22.
Mike Cope-Williams stands in front of the portrait of his grandfather. Photographer: Matt Houston.
Sir John had an absolute commitment to ensure technical education in Australia was first-rate and thought it was in the national interest that technical expertise should be improved from the ground up.
- Mike Cope-Williams
The two portraits of Sir John Storey on display at an RMIT event. The recently donated original is on the right. Photographer: Matt Houston.
RMIT’s John Storey Junior Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in 1955 with a bequest from Sir John’s will in memory of his son. These scholarships have allowed more than 650 students to study overseas. The Fund also offers a Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering to support outstanding students in that field.
“Sir John was, for so many reasons, very supportive of RMIT and we are very grateful for RMIT’s continued support of my grandfather’s legacy.”
