Obituaries Australia

A pioneer of rehabilitation medicine and worker for the disabled in Australia, Dr Bradney Norington, died on Thursday. He was 62.

Dr Norington was himself paralised in the 1950s poliomyelitis epidemic during his last year of studying medicine at Sydney University.

He later confided that he thought he caught the disease from untreated sewage in the ocean near Coogee, where he had often surfed. (He was only too keenly aware that some measures were only recently being taken to reduce the risk of spreading disease from ocean outfalls.)

Dr Norington had been a surf lifesaver and active sportsman. After four years in hospital recovering from polio – including a period during which he was in a coma – Dr Norington scored a personal triumph and proved many doubters wrong by completing his degree.

He went on to practise medicine from his wheelchair.

In the late 1950s Dr Norington worked in London and was among the first Australians to gain the Diploma of Physical Medicine.

On returning to Sydney, he worked as a specialist in rehabilitation and physical medicine at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Concord Hospital and Mt Wilga Rehabilitation Centre.

In the last years of his life, Dr Norington was greatly disheartened by the Federal Government’s decision to dismantle the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service, which meant the closure of the Mount Wilga and Queen Elizabeth rehabilitation centres in Sydney.

However, he continued to work as a doctor in rehabilitation near his home on the Central Coast, where he also enjoyed semi-retirement.

Dr Norington was known for his great intellect, dry wit and inner strength which sustained him. He guided mostly by the example he set.

He was a founder and inaugural president of the Australian College of Rehabilitation Medicine in 1980 and a board member of the Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Association of NSW.

Dr Norrington was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1979 for his service to rehabilitation and the handicapped. In 1981 he was named the Father of the Year in NSW.

He was the son of the late Harry Norington, a founder and long-time secretary of the NSW Teachers’ Federation.

Dr Norington is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, and two sons, Rolf and Brad, a Herald journalist. A funeral service will be held at Palmdale Crematorium at Ourimbah, north of Gosford, on Monday at 11.30 am.