With close family, friends, Hospital Board members and colleagues, Dr Castle was formally recognised for his years of passionate delivery of health care.

Dr Castle’s years of service span from 1956 until September 2012.

He represents what is now a rare breed – a doctor who could turn his hand safely to a number of specialty areas such as obstetrics, trauma, anaesthetics and major and minor surgical procedures.

Dr Castle commenced his medical degree at Adelaide University at the age of 16 after obtaining a scholarship. A hard working student, he obtained six credits over seven subjects.

He initially had to work hard during university holidays grape picking and wheat bag sewing, before he obtained a second scholarship that enabled him to focus on his studies.

"I needed a scholarship for fees and books to be able to go to university because my father died when I was 15 and I wasn't from a wealthy family,” he said.

He graduated in 1952, and after spending six weeks working in remote rural South Australia took up a residency at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

He worked with closely with the Director of Surgery in Adelaide, who was anxious for him to follow specialisation in surgical specialty.

After losing his sister to acute leukaemia, the local family GP took Norm on a trip to the Grampians and Stawell where he met his wife to be, Elizabeth Henderson.

Dr Castle fell head over heels in love with her, but could not say anything to her as he “did not have a penny”.

Elizabeth’s mother offered an open invitation to Dr Castle to visit. After spending an anxious year worrying that someone else would snap Elizabeth up, Norm called and visited the family, then proposed to Elizabeth.

After a year at the Royal Adelaide, he went on to the Children’s Hospital, marrying early in that year and spending his honeymoon at Lakes Entrance. The newlyweds lived in the bachelor’s flat at the hospital, and considered themselves highly fortunate.

In 1956, he went to work in Glenelg, where he was on call most nights. He contracted Q Fever whilst in there and was unable to work. At this time they had had their son Alistair.

Running out of funds, he and Elizabeth subsequently came to the Grampians whilst he recovered. 

They discussed returning to Adelaide, but the people of Stawell, local GP Dr Clifford Hunt and the Council pressured him to stay in Stawell.

Dr Castle gave a commitment of five years, as he was still keen to continue with his surgical specialization in Adelaide.

At the end of the five years, enjoying the diversity of medical and surgical work, Norm decided to stay on. His two daughters were subsequently born in the district.

Norm started working in Stawell in the building of Imbros Private Hospital on Monday 4th October 1956, working on his own until he established Stawell Medical Centre two years later.

"The policy I had from day one in the profession was if a person needed treatment, they got it, if they couldn't pay for it that is just the way it was," Dr Castle said.

"When I was a young fellow and in my teens I had no other objective but to do medicine."

"It wasn't unusual for us to have to work 48 hours straight when we were trained," he

He worked on his own in the medical centre for 17 years. He was contacted by local medical graduate Dr Andrew Cunningham who was keen to return to the area. Dr Cunningham commenced in 1972, and Mr Roger Warne joined them the same year.

A great supporter of the hospital, he and previous Chief Executive Michael Delahunty had many trips to Melbourne to meet with representatives of the department of health, politicians and philanthropic organizations to bring new services and equipment to Stawell.

Upon reflecting on the occasions he and Dr Castle attended meetings in Melbourne, Mr Delahunty said "Norm actually piloted a plane which would take us to Essendon airport," he said.

"As someone who isn't a huge fan of small aircraft (four seats), at no stage did I ever feel unsafe with Norm as pilot.

Instrumental in driving positive change, Dr Castle attracted many medical specialists to Stawell, including the highly popular orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr John Nelson.

Dr Castle’s efforts saw the implementation of many firsts for Stawell:

·         He remembers the first ambulance

·         Introduced the Blood Bank soon after his arrival

·         Championed cardiac monitoring for Stawell

·         Instrumental in commencing the Stawell SES

Michael Delahunty, who was Stawell Regional Health Chief Executive Officer from 1982 to 2007, said Dr Castle was always widely valued and appreciated due to the time and support he gave you.

"He was very passionate about improving the health service including staffing and infrastructure," he said.

"From a clinical side he always had a sixth sense, he saw a patient and would be able to see beyond what everybody else did and work out what the problem was.

"If someone was struggling or not improving he had an ability that only comes with great experience, to recognise what the problem was and fix it."

Dr Castle was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his work with the Stawell Hospital in 1999.

"He really led the charge to revitalise the hospital in the 1980s including making representations to government," Mr Delahunty said.

"He was pivotal in establishing the Stawell Regional Health Foundation which purchases medical equipment for the Hospital."

Dr Castle was also a founding member of Wimmera Community Care, a widely recognised government-funded organisation.

He said he believed the transformation of the old hospital into the new one at the time led the way.

"I believe we had the best country hospital in the state, it was one of the most modern," he said.

Dr Castle served on the Hospital Board, and was also sessional Medical Director for many years.

Other accolades include being recognised as General Practitioner of the Year 2000 in the Grampians area, Citizen of the Century and the Paul Harris Fellowship for services to the public by the Rotary Club.

Past District Governor, Rotarian Ted Gaffney has previously said Dr Castle had been an excellent member of the club.

"Norman has been particularly involved in organising community medical health forums that address health issues that are relevant to our area," he said.

"He has been very active in getting practitioners to speak at the sessions on issues including obesity, diabetes and something which is becoming more prevalent in our area, bowel cancer."

Dr Castle also worked with Rotary to send 16 secondary school pupils to Cambodia.

A passionate sportsman, Dr Castle was captain of the Victorian Veterans Golf Association from 2000 to 2004 and president from 2005 to 2007.

He received one of the top honours for his contribution, the Perry Fletcher award in 2009.

Dr Castle ceased practising in 2012 after working in Stawell for 57 years.

He remains a frequent visitor to the hospital, sharing his insights and memories with current Chief Executive Liz McCourt, and visiting the different departments around the hospital.