Storey Hall today has an appearance and functions as excitingly diverse as its history. Built by the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society as a meeting hall in 1887, the building was an important symbol of social and political protest. Storey Hall has today found new life as a major architectural site of the city, and as a significant contributor to the arts and exhibiting calendar. A glance at its past shows that Storey Hall has, throughout its long colourful history, been a part of the life of Melbourne.

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RMIT's archives document some of the diverse activities - artistic, political and sporting - that took place in Storey Hall. In 1907 it was the site of an exhibition of works by Sir Arthur Streeton. Crowds also gathered in 1911 to witness Clarence Weber, representing Australia, wrestle Alex Bain of New Zealand to defeat in the shortest time on record. Storey Hall has been the venue suffrage rallies, St Patrick's Day marches, classical and rock concerts and - legend has it - a performance by Dame Nellie Melba. Today's powerful purple and green colours recall the hall's earlier life as a place for feminist debate and Catholic activism.

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During World War 1 the building was leased to a feminist pacifist organisation, the Women's Political Association, and was the venue for many of Melbourne's largest anti-conscription public meetings and rallies. The organisation's purple, white and green flag was hoisted on the roof of the building "as a symbol of the sisterhood of women", and the Ashton Raggatt McDougall renovation in the 1990s has retained the feminist colours. Storey Hall was the venue for RMIT's 1998 International Women's Day luncheon with guest speaker Professor Dale Spender; in 1999 the IWD luncheon here was addressed by first-class cricketer Melanie Jones.

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In October 1916 the Woman Voter reported that "despite the large seating capacity of the building, thousands of people were turned away" from a debate between Adela Pankhurst (youngest member of the family of British suffragists and pacifists) and the Reverend Wyndham Heathcote.

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RMIT's Correspondence Branch (External Studies) became a tenant in 1948, and the building was bought for the Melbourne Technical College (as RMIT was then called) by the Victorian Education Department in 1957.

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During 1957-58 the Melbourne Technical College cleared all the rubbish and debris that had accumulated in the building and drafted plans for a refurbishment. The main hall was remodelled in 1958 and reopened as Storey Hall on 29 September 1959 by the then Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brooks. The hall was renamed in honour of Sir John Storey, an industrialist and member of the College Council for fifteen years, and his son John Junior who, on his death at the age of twenty-one, was an engineering student at the college. Storey Hall is a fitting tribute to Sir John's work on behalf of technical education in Victoria.

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Storey Hall has since been used for activities of the Student Union, degree conferring ceremonies, 3RRR live-to-air concerts, conferences, performances of the Melbourne Chorale, exhibitions and examinations. Until May 1990, when the upper hall was closed because of concerns about fire hazard and safety, the building was the main large-scale auditorium space available for RMIT staff and students.