{{Short description|New Zealand activist (1924–2000)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2015}}
'''Dame Stella Katherine Casey''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|DBE|size=85%}} (née '''Wright'''; 22 May 1924 – 7 July 2000) was a New Zealand campaigner for social issues as well as a prominent member of various national organisations.
==Early life and family== Stella Katherine Wright was born in New Plymouth on 22 May 1924, the daughter of Stella Regina Wright (née Hickey, 1887–1973), a schoolteacher prior to her wedding, and William James Wright (1883–1959).<ref name="NZH obit Stella">{{cite news|date=22 July 2000|first1=Josie|last1=Clarke|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=145212|title=Obituary: Stella Casey|work=The New Zealand Herald|accessdate=31 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231042023/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=145212|archive-date=31 December 2014|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=HNS19210702.2.17|title=Opunake|work=Hawera & Normanby Star|date=2 July 1921|accessdate=31 December 2014|volume=XLI|page=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231052916/http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=HNS19210702.2.17|archive-date=31 December 2014|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="HBTQ">{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |authorlink1=Alister Taylor |authorlink2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=93}}</ref> She was a Roman Catholic.
She was raised at her family dairy farm in Taranaki<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Casey, Stella Katherine (Dame), 1924-2000 |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22421168#:~:text=After%20gaining%20a%20bachelor%20of%20arts, |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=natlib.govt.nz}}</ref> and was educated at Opunake District High School, and Sacred Heart College, Christchurch.<ref name="HBTQ" /> She went on to study at Victoria University College from 1947, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1948.<ref name="HBTQ" />
In 1948, she married Maurice Eugene Casey, a lawyer and later Judge in the Court of Appeal,<ref name=":0" /> who was born in 1923.<ref name="Law Society obit">{{cite web|first1=Geoff|last1=Adlam|url=http://my.lawsociety.org.nz/in-practice/people/obituaries/obituaries-list/rt-hon-sir-maurice-eugene-casey-1923-2012|title=Rt Hon Sir Maurice Eugene Casey, 1923–2012|publisher=New Zealand Law Society|accessdate=31 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231042421/http://my.lawsociety.org.nz/in-practice/people/obituaries/obituaries-list/rt-hon-sir-maurice-eugene-casey-1923-2012|archive-date=31 December 2014|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The couple had either nine<ref name="Law Society obit" /> or ten<ref name="NZH obit Maurice">{{cite news|date=21 January 2012|first1=Yvonne|last1=Tahana|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10780155|title=Judge's ruling halted divisive All Black tour|work=The New Zealand Herald|accessdate=31 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231034925/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10780155|archive-date=31 December 2014|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> children (sources vary).
==Community activities== Casey was a member of the Catholic Women's League,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hercock |first=Fay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=As0WooTC52MC&dq=Stella+Casey&pg=PA163 |title=Alice: The Making of a Woman Doctor, 1914–1974 |date=1999 |publisher=Auckland University Press |isbn=978-1-86940-206-8 |pages=164 |language=en}}</ref> the National Council of Women,<ref>{{Cite book |last=McIntyre |first=Roberta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_9ynYbrnPYC&dq=Stella+Casey&pg=PA138 |title=The Women's Parliament: The National Council of the Women of New Zealand, 1896–1920 |date=1996 |publisher=Victoria University Press |isbn=978-0-86473-299-6 |language=en}}</ref> the Christchurch Polytechnic Council and the New Zealand branch of the Federation of University Women. She compiled a history of the Catholic Women's League of New Zealand which was published just after her death in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=50 years of resolution / Stella Casey |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22433904#:~:text=History%20of%20the%20Catholic%20Women's%20League |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=natlib.govt.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Page |first=Dorothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K7S3AAAAIAAJ&q=Stella+Casey |title=The National Council of Women: A Centennial History |date=1996 |publisher=Auckland University Press |isbn=978-1-86940-154-2 |pages=220 |language=en}}</ref>
She started her first campaign in 1969 in Browns Bay on Auckland's East Coast Bays when she objected to pornography being on display in shops; this resulted in a nationwide debate.<ref name="NZH obit Stella" /> She also lobbied against the use of drugs, raising the issue with local politicians<ref>{{Cite book |last=New Zealand Parliament |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b10hAQAAIAAJ&dq=Stella+Casey+drugs&pg=PA757 |title=Parliamentary Debates: House of Representatives |date=1971 |language=en}}</ref> and writing an article titled "[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0kGntgAACAAJ&dq=Stella+Casey+drugs&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y Drugs and the Young New Zealander]"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Casey |first=Stella Katherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kGntgAACAAJ&q=Stella+Casey+drugs |title=Drugs and the Young New Zealander |date=1968 |publisher=C.S.L. Publications |language=en}}</ref> for the ''Catholic Women's League in the Diocese of Auckland Publications''.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBUHAQAAIAAJ&q=Stella+Casey |title=Review: Drugs and the Young New Zealander |date=1968 |publisher=New Zealand Quarterly Review |language=en}}</ref>
==Honours and awards== In the 1991 New Year Honours, Casey was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the community.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=52383|date=31 December 1990|page=29|supp=2}}</ref> Later that year, in the Queen's Birthday Honours, her husband, by then a Court of Appeal judge, was appointed a Knight Bachelor.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=52564|date=14 June 1991|page=29|supp=y}}</ref> In 1993, Stella Casey was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/new-zealand-royal-honours/new-zealand-royal-honours-system/types-new-zealand-royal-honours/other-distinctive-new-zealand-honours/suffrage-medal-register |title=The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients |date=26 July 2018 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=18 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918090949/https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/new-zealand-royal-honours/new-zealand-royal-honours-system/types-new-zealand-royal-honours/other-distinctive-new-zealand-honours/suffrage-medal-register |archive-date=18 September 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
==Death== Casey died in Wellington on 7 July 2000, aged 76.<ref name="NZH obit Stella"/> Her husband died in 2012.<ref name="NZH obit Maurice"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://natlib.govt.nz/records/35831670?search%5Bi%5D%5Bname_authority_id%5D=-134365&search%5Bpath%5D=items Collection of interviews with Stella Casey] as part of the 1993 ''The Dames Oral History Project''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Stella}} Category:1924 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century Roman Catholics Category:People from New Plymouth Category:People educated at Opunake High School Category:People educated at Catholic Cathedral College Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni Category:Anti-pornography activists Category:New Zealand Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:New Zealand women activists Category:New Zealand people of Irish descent Category:New Zealand Roman Catholics Category:Recipients of the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 Category:Wives of knights