Awarded Honorary Life Membership in 1981.
Nomination
‘That Sybil Story be elected an Honorary Life Member of the Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc.’ Mover: Lyndall Langman Seconder: Alison Currie.
The Club constitution states that Honorary Life Membership may be bestowed upon a member for meritorious service to the Club. Sybil has been a Club member for 20 years. For all of this time she has been actively concerned about and has helped with the administration of the Club. She was President during 1968-69 but especially appreciated is the way she has helped behind the scenes, with the Club meeting room, and with the typing of ‘IT’ (too many times to count). Her activities for NPA of ACT, Tasmanian Wilderness Society, RHA, and on other conservation issues have brought indirect credit to the Club. I move this motion with great pleasure. – Sept 1981.
Obituary
Bushwalkers and lovers of our nearby national parks owe much to the life and work of Sybil Story, the Canberra Bushwalking Club’s first female president. Sybil died in Canberra on 9 February 2004.
Sybil and her husband Robert migrated from South Africa to Canberra in 1959 together with their daughters, Judy and Muriel. Sybil and Robert soon became active in moves to establish a National Park for the Nation’s Capital, and were founding members of NPA. They joined the Canberra Bushwalking Club in 1963.
Sybil became Walks Secretary of the Club in 1966 and President in 1968. She encouraged walks leaders and walkers to experience the beauty and diversity of the natural environment around Canberra and readily shared her own enjoyment with others. She gave generously of her time in the preparation of the walks program and the newsletter, IT, as well as enlisting the help of a bevy of typists and publishers and actively contributing to the Club’s life.
Sybil and Robert both led day and weekend bushwalks and set the pattern and standard not only for Muriel and Judy, but also other walkers on their trips. Sybil also had the capacity to make newcomers feel welcome and to introduce them to bushwalking.
I first met Sybil, Robert, Judy and Muriel while on a bushwalking trip in Tasmania, on the South Coast Track. Sybil and Robert promptly invited me to contact them as soon as I received an appointment to Canberra. When I moved to Canberra, they introduced me to the Canberra Bushwalking Club, in the days when the monthly meetings were held at University House.
Sybil trained Judy and Muriel well in the challenging task of packing as lightly as possible. I remember evenings around the kitchen table in their Deakin home as Judy cut off the excess packaging around biscuits and Muriel counted out the raisins for snacks. The family blue VW Beetle was often used to collect me and other walkers living in hostels for walks with the Club.
Sybil, Robert, Judy, and Muriel travelled to Argentina, for Robert’s work in 1970. Her sense of adventure did not leave her when in foreign parts, and she continued to provide the girls with many enduring experiences. I recall the accounts of the family’s time in San Carlos de Bariloche, and our introduction to the merits of alpaca wool for bushwalking and skiing garments like jumpers, mitts and balaclavas, promoted by Sybil.
Sybil undertook a number of cross-country skiing trips in the Kosciuszko area in the late 1970s but she suffered a bad fall, which resulted in serious damage to both knees and so her skiing and bushwalking activities had to be curtailed.
Despite these setbacks, Sybil maintained her commitment to many conservation causes over the years, and spent much time and effort in working with Robert and other CBC members on submissions to government agencies, responses to draft plans of management for national parks, letters to newspaper editors and the like. In those pre-computer days, Sybil could always be relied upon to type IT when no one else could be found, and she always came forward when help was needed on other Club administrative tasks.
Sybil and Robert were both elected Honorary Life Members for their contribution to the Club, Robert in 1978 and Sybil in 1981.
They both worked tirelessly throughout their community life and their love of the bush has made a lasting impression on the many people who met and walked with them. Robert was honoured with the Order of Australia Medal in 1989 for his services to bushwalking and conservation. Sybil loyally and conscientiously contributed to Robert’s achievements in all these endeavours.
Her wisdom, adventurous nature, commitment and generosity are remembered by many in the Club and her role as a team member with her husband, is something to admire and remember.
I extend my, and the Club’s deepest sympathies to Judy and Muriel, and their families.
Suzanne Vidler, published in It March 2004
