Person - Norma Disher
NORMA MARGARET DISHER (1922-2026)
Born in Bega NSW on 19 October 1922, Norma Disher had two younger brothers. Her father was a coach builder and wheelwright and her mother, a talented seamstress, worked in a drapery store in the town. Norma was educated locally at St Patrick’s Primary. At age 14, following her mother’s death, she moved to Sydney where she lived with friends of the family and gained her Intermediate Certificate at St Mary Magdalene High School in Rose Bay.
After completing Technical College courses in dressmaking and millinery, she worked for seven years as music librarian at radio station 2SM; a colleague was Pat Jenkins who joined NT and helped her with costumes. The first shows Norma saw at NT were The Star Turns Red and Woman Bites Dog, and her first job after joining in 1948 was fixing the curtains for a Workshop The Bear directed by Keith Gow. She helped with music for shows, was on backstage and production committees, and took over Wardrobe from Elsie Dayne . She was given a Chinese Peace badge in 1957.
Norma was never interested in acting but liked being part of the NT group of volunteers. She made costumes for Spanish Village 1951, a Workshop Pygmalion 1951, United Notions 1953, The Biggest Thief in Town 1959, “The Night of the Ding Dong” 1959, “The Merry Wives of Windsor” 1977, and “The Captain of Köpenick” 1977; co-directed Here Under Heaven 1961 and Our "Dear" Relations 1963; and directed Purlie Victorious 1964 and Andorra 1965. A member of the Sydney Film Society, she was a co-founder of the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit with Keith Gow and Jock Levy while working as a clerk at the Sydney Trade Union Club. For a time she lived with other NT members at Maramanah Kings Cross. A Life Member from 1964, she married Bruce Hawkins.
In 2020 Norma was awarded a UNSW Honorary Fellowship. An active member of the Glebe Society's Blue Wren subcommittee, she was still living at home until just before her death at age 103 on 23 January 2026.
Maramanah Kings Cross
Spanish Village, 1951
Pygmalion, 1951
The Biggest Thief in Town, 1959
The Night of the Ding Dong, 1959
