Norm is known to be a very resourceful person. As a young man he worked on the family farm, went dam sinking on neighbouring farms, looked after teams of horses which he showed in and around Gnowangerup and at the Royal Show. He fondly recalls the "royal" names of the horses Duke, King and Prince. He also did a lot of shearing around the district before the war and in the north west after his service in WWII. In his youth Norm was a very good footballer, a crack shot with a rifle, and played a little bit of cricket.
Norm married Muriel nee Williams, (1915-2009) on 28 January 1939 at Highgate in Perth, and together they had two sons, Graeme Edgar Eastwood born in 1939-2008 and Kenneth Norman Eastwood (b. 1940) who resides in Perth [2011].
Norm and Muriel were living in Harvey when he joined up in 1940 and he was a labourer working on farms, digging potatoes at Benger and driving trotters for Fred Kersley senior.
Trotting is something Norm still says he wishes he had been able to pursue further as he loved it - again the bond between man and horse.
Norm enlisted in the RAAF in January 1940 and served in 76 Squadron in New Guinea from 1943 to 1945. Norm's service number was 17218 and he was promoted to the rank of Corporal.
For a long time Norm never talked much about the war, but in latter years he has been more forthcoming, but even now, his family knows it hurts him deeply. He was overseas for 3 years, with very little pay and almost no communication with his wife and young family back home.
When he came home from war he spent considerable time trying to locate his wife and sadly she had met someone else. Norm cared for his two small sons whilst suffering illness from his war injuries.
Due to work commitments, he sadly had to place his two boys in a Salvation Army home and to this day he is very bitter and unable to talk about it.
Norm's brother Chas also enlisted, however his father "got Chas out of the Army to work on the farm." Presumably pressure was applied to the Army to release him for farm duties as he was desperately needed on the family property at Oakbank.
After the war Norm went up north shearing until the early 1950's. He worked for Synnot and Dunbar and was a "200 a day man." When he had got some money together, he came back to Perth and built his own home in Duke Street and got his boys out of the Salvation Army home to live with him.
Norm joined the Postmaster General's Department as a linesman. At the time telephone cables were being laid in the Perth CBD.
He left that job when a younger person whom he had trained won the senior position over him, all because of a "piece of paper". A very proud man!
In the early 1960s shortly after his son Graeme headed north to Carnarvon, Norm followed and together they built a boat and fished professionally, they trapped rabbits and sold them and then went kangaroo shooting.
Norm was and still is a very canny bushman, very easily able to navigate by the stars during his shooting days.
He built his own camp beside a pool in the Gascoyne River on Yinnietharra Station and spent several years shooting kangaroos making a very good living. He then bought a truck and was doing general carting from Geraldton to Carnarvon and surrounding stations.

Norm met his second wife Doris 'Dot' Elizabeth Rooney nee Watters (1918-2008) in Carnarvon after he moved north to join his son Graeme. They were married in 1970. Dot and Norm bought and operated the Golden Fleece Fuel Depot in Carnarvon in conjunction with a school bus which they purchased and Norm drove.
They retired to the WA coastal town of Leeman in 1971 and then moved to Geraldton in 1974.
In Carnarvon he took up lawn bowling and became very good at that - winning medals and tournaments both in Carnarvon and in Geraldton. They resided together until Dot's death on 20 October 2008. Norm continues to reside in the same home which is next door to Dot's daughter, Lorraine and 96 years old, he is managing very well with Lorraine's assistance.
In December 2010 he again passed his driver's licence test and continues to drive in the local area.

Family was an important part of Norm's life and because his step-daughter Lorraine lived next door, his grandchildren had an opportunity to learn all sorts of life experiences from their Grandad in the back yard shed.
This included burning words in wood using a magnifying glass in the sun, making all sorts of things with pieces of wood and glue, restoring pieces of furniture etc. Norm has always had, and still has, a thriving vegetable garden.
Norm was never idle and kept very busy in his retirement years, he and his old builder mate carried out small building jobs around the area.
His greatest passion was woodwork and furniture restoration - he went to "work" in the back shed for many, many years. His home and that of Lorraine's is furnished with pieces Norm made including wall cabinets, coffee tables, traymobiles, clocks, lamps, pepper and salt shakers, vases, foot massage rollers, a patterned rolling pin which made shortbread look very fancy and many other items too numerous to mention.

He was always trying to improve and taught himself to do some quite fancy wood turning. All manner of home maintenance items were also completed by Norm - tradesmen didn't get too much business when he was around!
He converted an ordinary 6 x 4 box trailer to a tipping trailer which still brings comments and turns heads at the rubbish tip when Lorraine and Norm back in beside them, tip off the load and drive away while they are still shovelling and raking their rubbish off their trailers.
Norm and Dot both worked on the gate at the Geraldton Turf Club for 15 or so years and were made Honorary Members on their retirement in their 80's.

Norm and Dot spent many years caravanning, gold prospecting and generally enjoying the bush. They travelled around Australia for 6 months in 1976. They were made Honorary Members of the Midwest Caravan Club of which they were two of the founding members and took the group to all sorts of interesting places around the area.
Norm will be attending the 10th birthday celebrations of the Midwest Caravan Club on 15-17 April 2011.
Norm was involved in other aspects of Community Service - he spent a lot of time helping and teaching woodwork to retirees.
He was a tireless worker for Clubs such as Bowls, Races, Midwest Caravan Club etc. He made numerous wooden pennant flags and frames which still adorn the walls of the Wonthella Bowling Club and items such as a coffee and folding camping tables for the Midwest Caravan Club to raffle.
Norm can no longer do woodwork as he is a bit shaky, but enjoys spending his day tending to his vegie patch, reading, watching TV and generally relaxing. He is an avid sportsman and enjoys watching cricket and football on TV, although he often complains the game of football is not as skilful as when he played.

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NORM AT THE GATE OF THE FARM "OAK BAMK"  2009               #5