Br. Norman Wilson
Aquinas College (WA)
The following tribute to Br. Norman "Slick" Wilson was provided in 2025 by Dr Graham Mahony.
Br. Norman Wilson, was a powerhouse for rowing at Aquinas College.
In his book, "Aquinas - W Woodruff, Headmaster 1963-1968", Bill Woodruff wrote of Br. Norm and rowing:
This man was to be Aquinas 'through and through' educated there in the 1940's, he was to come back in 1958 to make his own unique impact on the school during the next decade.
Be it class, drama, football, rowing, any student involved with Br. Wilson would never forget the experience.
He left Aquinas after ten or eleven years, to become Headmaster of St. Paul's College, Strathmont in Adelaide. He was a very good Headmaster.
A fine athletic fellow all his years, a lovely personality, he was stricken with an inoperable cancer, spent his declining years at Aquinas, and died May 18, 1999 at the early age of 69 years.
Rowing
Speaking of his involvement in rowing, Headmaster Br. Bill Woodruff wrote:
“If anybody made a greater impact on that sport [of rowing] at Aquinas, I would be very, very surprised”. Norm’s strategy was “the rebuilding of the fleet and the development of a coaching system that led to Aquinas winning something like 15 successive races in the Head of River Regatta! … Br. Wilson had big plans - to develop a master plan for coaching within the school, a plan that would ensure ongoing development.”
“During the first term, leading up to the school regatta, the Year 8’s and 9’s interested in rowing were given priority - coaching and the introduction to the IV’s [4’s]. It was all done with great intensity, so long ago, but today year 8’s and 9’s race in IV’s [4’s] in House competitions - the senior groups, with little practice joining in with IV’s [4’s] and XIII’s [8’s]. School Regatta day was high-powered, and I recall the amazement on the faces of a couple of visiting headmasters whose schools had accepted invitations to compete in a special race.”
“The rowers ‘worshiped’ Br. Wilson, but they saw him a tough taskmaster. The unreliable would be quickly ‘weeded out’, and any slacker, after a warning or two, would be banished, never to return.”
“In 1993, Norm needed three good coaches to handle the crews for the ‘Head of the River’ Regatta, and he found them in Don O’Brien [who exceeded Bernie Barnard], Joe Saunders and Ken Roberts - Don with the main crew, Joe with the 2nd VIII [8], and Ken with all the Fours. They were excellent coaches - real quality. Br. Wilson was content to take up the role of fourth coach and overall supervisor, concentrating upon the juniors.”
Dr Graham Mahony
November 2025