In our second ‘‘People of Benalla’’ feature, The Ensign spoke to George Norman after he won more than a dozen top prizes at the Victorian Australorp Titles earlier this month.
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After taking out his first poultry prize in 1954, as a 13-year-old, George Norman has claimed more than 200 supreme champions in shows across his lifetime.
For the Benalla local, he is at the pinnacle of the poultry exhibition world.
He’s won every annual Victorian title, taken out four of eight national titles he has entered, won breed titles at five of the eight Royal Sydney Shows he competed in, and was a supreme exhibitor at the Royal Melbourne Show.
But Mr Norman isn’t done yet.
‘‘To get 95 per cent of the way takes about three years,’’ he said.
‘‘But the next five per cent takes more than 30 years to get to.’’
Mr Norman was recently elected patron and life member of the Australorp club after predominately focusing on the Australian breed in recent years, adding to his patronages with a number of other clubs.
‘‘I’m not ageing by any means,’’ Mr Norman said.
‘‘If you’ve been in it for as long as I have, you kind of collect these things.
‘‘That’s if you do the right thing, and I think I have.
‘‘I’ve always prided myself on encouraging others.’’
And though Mr Norman is officially recognised by these groups, he considers himself as a patron of exhibition poultry in general.
‘‘I see it as a means of people from all walks of life becoming involved with each other,’’ he said.
‘‘We have doctors, lawyers, artists, plasterers, and six-year-old children.
‘‘I see it as my responsibility to make sure its viable and to make sure participants can afford it.’’
When speaking to Mr Norman, he was quick to highlight some achievements of friends in Benalla, including Stephen Hide, who recently won reserve champion at the Wine Dot Championships and Supreme Champion at the Modern Game Club of Australia.
‘‘It was really well deserved,’’ Mr Norman said.
‘‘And any success encourages, so if he was hooked beforehand, he’ll certainly be hooked now.’’
And it’s the future success of the poultry game that Mr Norman is looking to safeguard in his later years.
The Australorp club is in a healthy situation with demographics ranging across all ages.
But for another of Mr Norman’s clubs, the Victorian Poultry Fanciers, membership has dwindled.
Mr Norman said the next generation wasn’t coming along, so promotion of poultry was vitally important.
‘‘We don’t have too much time to grab that opportunity,’’ Mr Norman said.
‘‘The are so many opportunities for young people growing up today.
‘‘Now I could have sat there and decide on cricket or soccer or football.
‘‘But back when I was young, I’d be lucky to have a pair of football boots.
‘‘The 2019 poultry clubs need to tackle that.’’
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