ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collections
HMSS 0386 Norm Fisher Portrait
Scope and Content Notes
| Call Number | HMSS 0386 |
|---|---|
| Collection | Norm Fisher Portrait |
| Date Range | 1997 |
| Quantity | 1 |
| Access Conditions | open |
| Copying Conditions | with attribution |
| Related Collections |
Norman William Frederick Fisher was bon on 5 September 1936 at Preston, Victoria. He worked for teh State Electricity Commission from 1952 to 1967. After a 12 months secondment to the British Electricity Counci in 1967 he was appointed Assistant Chief of the Transport Planning Division of the Commonwealth Bureau of Roads. He moved to Canberra in January 1974 as First Assistant Secretary of the Department of Urban and Regional Development.
In Canberra Norm held senior positions in several federal government departments, and was an adviser on training to the Australian Public Service. He sat on the Canberra Clinical School Board of Studies, and was a leader in the development of statistical management of the Australian vocational education and training system.
Appointed Director of the ACT College of Technical and Further Education (ACT TAFE) in 1987, Norm established the College’s national and international reputation for innovative educational courses. Following a two-year appointment as Acting Secretary of the Department of Urban Services in 1991-1993 he was reappointed in 1993 as Director of ACT TAFE, by then re-named Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT). In this capacity he was instrumental in establishing the Australian International Hotel School in the Hotel Kurrajong in 1995, of which he was the founding Director.
Norm was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1986, and received the Government Service Long and Dedicated Service Award in July 1994. He retired from CIT on 25 October 1996, and died on 19 February 1997. The Norm Fisher Award is presented annually for an outstanding and extensive contribution as an individual to vocational education and training in the ACT.
Norm's contribution was further recognised by the ACT Government in 2001 when Norman Fisher Circuit in the Belconnen suburb of Bruce was named for him.
The posthumous portrait, in oil on canvas, was painted by Victorian artist Thel Cardwell from a photograph. It hung in the Norm Fisher Library of the International Hotel School until the School closed in May 2013. The new owners of the Hotel Kurrajong returned the portrait to Maureen, Norm’s widow, who donated it to the ACT Heritage Library in August 2014.