Background
She was born in Perth, Western Australia to Ernest and Annie Parker and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia in 1924.
She was born in Perth, Western Australia to Ernest and Annie Parker and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia in 1924.
She is regarded as one of the founders of social work in Australia and established Catholic social work at Street Vincent"s Hospital, Melbourne in 1932 and Street Vincent"s Hospital, Sydney four years later. He died in 1964. Along with Elvira Lyons, Constance Moffitt and Eileen Davidson, she helped found a "Catholic Welfare Bureau" (now known as Centacare) with branches in Melbourne (1935), Sydney (1941) and Adelaide (1942). Together, the four also "..established the Catholic Trained Social Workers" Association in 1940.
Parker was president of the first state professional social workers" association from 1940 to 1943 and was instrumental in the foundation of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), serving as its inaugural president from 1946 to 1954."
In May 1943, she opened the first social work department in an Australian mental hospital at Callan Park and was also the first psychiatric worker appointed by the Department of Public Health.
She was appointed the associate professor and head of the Department of Social Work at the University of New South Wales from 1966 to 1969. The Norma Parker Correctional Centre for Women (part of the Parramatta Female Factory) is named after her.