The beloved Sydney cultural and political activist Norma Margaret Disher Hawkins died on 23rd January 2026 at the age of 103.

Photo Margot Nash 1980

Norma was born in Bega NSW to Melbourne Joseph Disher, a coachbuilder, wheelwright and carpenter, and Euphemia Douch, a seamstress. Norma was introduced to classical music by her Uncle Bob, who had a gramophone and a large collection of music. He also took her to the local cinema.  Her mother taught her to sew expertly.

She grew up during the Great Depression with two younger brothers.  Times were tough and, when her mother died of pneumonia when she was twelve, the family went to live with their grandmother.  When she died eighteen months later, Norma was sent to Sydney to live with ‘Aunt Edith,’ a friend of the family, to continue her schooling. First at St Mary Magdalene High School in Rose Bay, then at East Sydney Technical College where she continued with dressmaking and millinery. Finding the joy of live classical music concerts in Sydney, she would save up five shillings a week to attend ABC Orchestra performances at the Sydney Town Hall.

She then worked for seven years as music librarian at radio station 2SM. It was here that she learnt about the progressive Sydney New Theatre from a co-worker, who took her to plays. She began to volunteer in 1948. She said 'I suppose I was looking for a philosophy of life.' When they found out she could sew 'they grabbed me straight away. So, I discovered then that there was something there that I could do. I didn’t want to act, but I could be helpful.'

From 1948 until 1985, Norma was more than just 'helpful', as the theatre’s chief costume maker and later designer, eloquently calling it 'my complete vocation'. While she primarily worked on wardrobe, Norma turned her hand to directing and was a member of the Workshop Committee and the Production committee. New Theatre stalwart Marie Armstrong commented that 'Norma never acted, she was always the wardrobe, she was always on committees, she was a prominent member, she then directed … It was multi-skilling stuff'. By 1953, Norma was employed as an administrative officer for the Sydney Trade Union Club.

Through New Theatre, she met theatre directors Keith Gow and Jock Levy who were both working shifts on the waterfront for the left-led Waterside Workers Federation (WWF). They decided to set up a Maritime Industries Theatre Group and asked Norma to help. When the union secretary, Tom Nelson, received a report from a rank-and-file worker about a 16mm film trailer Keith had shot to publicise the first production, he asked if they could make a film to support the union’s pensions campaign. Pensions for Veterans (1953) was produced and proved both popular with wharfies and a powerful campaign tool. It was the beginning of the legendary Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit (WWFFU) and led to Norma becoming the third paid member of the film unit.

The WWFFU was the first film unit in the world to be funded by a trade union. Its productions focused on social and labour issues including industrial disputes, safety, nationalisation of industries and housing shortages. The three filmmakers worked collectively, not always taking on strictly defined crew roles. Norma remembered that 'we were part of the whole upward surge in creative work that was going on in the progressive movement of the time.' From 1953 to 1958 the WWFFU made 13 films that have gone down in film and labour history. Their film The Hungry Miles (1955), about the great depression on the waterfront, stands today as an acknowledged classic of Australian documentary.

The New Theatre and the Film Unit introduced Norma to left-wing politics and she joined the Communist Party of Australia in 1950, leaving in 1956 after Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s crimes.  Her work in progressive politics resulted in a number of connections in the Sydney cultural-political communities, such as the links between the New Theatre and the Sydney Committee for Human Rights in Guatemala. She remained in touch with the Guatemalan community all her life.

In the 1960s Norma worked with filmmaker and film distributor Eddie Allison at Quality Films, assisting in the administration and dispatch of film prints, often European art and activist films. She also worked for New Dawn Films. She was a keen film goer and a member of a number of film societies.

At the New Theatre, at the age of 55, Norma met, and later married, Bruce Hawkins, a lecturer in engineering. Bruce and Norma shared a love of classical music and they were founding members of the Australia Ensemble, as well as attending concerts of Musica Viva, the Australia Ensemble, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Macquarie Trio. After Bruce died in 1998, 'I kept our two ACO seats going, and I always took somebody with me,' she said. 'I wanted to share the music.' Norma commissioned the song cycle Three Birds from composer Ian Munroe, in Bruce’s honour.

She loved her local Glebe community and her door was always open. She was an active member of the Glebe Society, particularly its Blue Wren subcommittee. Her home was close to John Street Reserve and in recent decades Norma was particularly active in its preservation as a habitat for blue wrens. In 2020 Norma was awarded a UNSW Honorary Fellowship for her services to music and to social justice. In 2021 she was presented with a tree planted in John Street Reserve by the Glebe Society and the City of Sydney in recognition for her outstanding contribution to the environment and the community. 

She is survived by her loving niece Ruth Disher and nephew Tim Disher and their families. Her passion for social justice and her love of music, culture, family and community filled her long and rich life. She will be missed by all her knew her.

 --- Lisa Milner and Margot Nash, Jan 2026

Dr Lisa Milner is the author of The New Theatre: The people, plays and politics behind Australia's radical theatre, Interventions Inc, 2022 ‎and Fighting Films: a history of the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit,  Pluto Press, 2003

Margot Nash is a filmmaker and Visiting Fellow in Communications at the University of Technology Sydney. She was the camera person on Film-work (Hughes 1979), a one-hour documentary about the WWFFU. She is currently developing a film about Norma’s life.