Norma's Profile

I started caring for wildlife in 1991 when I joined WIRES, working initially in the office alongside Mikla Lewis, the founder of WIRES. Wildlife caring was still in its infancy and we were pretty naive calling back and forth to each other for answers to the unusual enquiries from the public. My first rescue was a Tawny Frogmouth that screamed and screamed from what we now know was pesticide poisoning. It died a few hours later.

I have lived a life surrounded with animals. In England during the war we kept the usual chickens and rabbits, and my love for animals was reinforced when, with all the food rationing, I refused to eat 'Goldie' the chicken when served up on a plate. I created so much fuss the family had to arrange a funeral and bury her.

At the end of the war we went to Singapore to live and there I made a garden for frogs, kept fighting fish in the shower and brought home numerous stray/discarded puppies. My youth was spent travelling the world with my parents and living in such diverse places as Madrid, Moscow and Delhi.

I returned to England as a teenager and left the countryside to make my way in London. Michael a trainee doctor and I married soon after, and yearning for sunshine, joined the Royal Air Force and moved to Cyprus. Sunshine became an essential element of our lives and on leaving the air force we emigrated to Australia as 'ten pound Poms'. With a young daughter we once again had a house full of animals, from 'Flossy' the guineapig to 'Sundance' the palomino horse.

This was a fantastic move and we have enjoyed a very full and satisfying lifestyle here, interrupted for eight years to sail round the world in a yacht that we built ourselves. At that time I was working as a fully ticketed sailmaker.

Aside from WIRES activities we travel all over eastern Australia with Michael racing a number of historic racing cars. We still sail and spent six months a few years ago cruising to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Now we have a motorhome which we keep in Europe where we spend 4 months during the European summer - our winter. I am able to take time off from my animal caring during these winter months as this is the quieter time and other members of the branch are able to cope with the rescue and care of our native animals.

We live in a home overlooking Pittwater with a lot of bushland around. I enjoy the garden and have more visiting wildlife than most wildlife refuges, in fact my garden was featured on a Better Homes and Gardens segment on TV on how to create a wildlife-friendly garden.

The number of my aviaries continues to grow - I now have seven. I also have an incubator for the very young animals. The birds and animals I have cared for number in the thousands, and in the peak spring/summer months I often have 30-40 in care at any one time.

I also enjoy writing and am now up to issue72 of the Northern Beaches Newsletter. I have also produced the Australian Bird Rehabilitation Manual, Identification of Chicks Nestlings and Fledglings of Australian Birds, Small Mammals Identification and Care, and the Australian Wildbird Rescue manual. These books and manuals sell to wildlife carers throughout every state in Australia.

(10th January 2010)