Crawford, Norman

Norman Crawford was a Tenterfield District journalist and historian who adopted Tenterfield as his home for nearly thirty years, making a significant contribution to the preservation of the area's history. Born at Alstonville in 1881, Crawford grew up there and at 18 years of age drove cattle in the New England district. After his marriage to Ethel Johnston in 1905, the Crawfords lived on their Alstonville farm, which he had named Moomoonbin, where their four children were born. Crawford took an active part on the Alstonville Agricultural Society's committee, serving as vice-president and becoming a Life Member.

In the early 1930s the Crawfords moved to the Northern Tableland's town of Tenterfield where Norman Crawford worked as an insurance agent. Crawford soon became engrossed in his passion to compile records of early settlers' reminiscences. He was the prime instigator of the reforming of the Tenterfield District Historical Society in 1939 along with Ted Petherick and Arthur Donnelly, and served as secretary continually from March 1939 until his death in September 1958, almost twenty years. In 1942, Tenterfield's centenary was celebrated and the Historical Society's collection of records, much of which had been collected by Norman Crawford, was opened by Lt-Col M.F. Bruxner. At the first meeting of the National Trust Tenterfield School of Arts Management Committee on January 14, 1958, Crawford was elected honorary curator with intentions to set up a Tenterfield folk museum in the town's Sir Henry Parkes Memorial School of Arts.

Crawford passed away in 1958. Well-known North Coast historian Louise Daley paid tribute to Crawford's work, noting that "future Australians will profit from the labour of one who worked wisely and well."