Former quarantine officer for inland port of Albury-Wodonga Norman Halburd has died

As well as being the first Commonwealth quarantine officer serving the proclaimed "Port of Albury-Wodonga" in the 1970s, he was a fine bass singer in Gilbert and Sullivan productions.

Well-versed in the mysteries of Freemasonry, he graduated from a Wodonga lodge by serving as an assistant to high-ranking Victorian Lodge officers.

In sport, long after playing football for Wahgunyah, he took up Goju-Ryu karate with Sal Ebanez, and after years of practice and study, gained his black belt aged 65.

Norman Travers Halburd, aged 85, lived the first 10 years of his life at Mulwala, where his father, a Gallipoli veteran, farmed until the family moved to Wangaratta.

He was proud his Travers name recalled Irish ancestor Sir Robert Travers, a soldier, judge and parliamentarian killed in battle in 1647.

The Halburd name came from a great-grandfather who was a Protestant priest in Ireland.

Mr Halburd was apprenticed to a carpenter and joiner in Wodonga and later worked for F.A. Stow and Ian Sproule in North Albury.

In the 1960s, he changed careers by becoming a fruit fly inspector on the block on the Lincoln Causeway. This involved studying plant entomology and pathology and eventually assisting in fly eradication programs throughout Victoria.

His next job was as a Victorian horticultural inspector who certified fruit and vegetables being transported across the Border, though his office was in central Albury.

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In 1979, the Albury-Wodonga growth centre was designated an inland port, with Mr Halburd's job being to ensure that shipping containers delivered direct to his Bandiana compound were free of contamination.

This involved inspecting big shipments of machinery for Borg Warner, Uncle Ben's (Mars), the newsprint mill at Ettamogah and other industries.

Mr Halburd married Beverley Fisher in 1963 and they raised two sons, Christopher, at present a magistrate at Wagga, and David, who is in business at Townsville.

In retirement, Mr Halburd's activities ranged from St Mark's church, North Albury, to the Rotary Club of Albury North, and the Manual Activities Centre (now Men's Shed) at Lavington.

He is survived by Mrs Halburd, their sons and three grandchildren.

Mr Halburd's funeral will be at Lester & Son's North Albury chapel from 11am Friday with donations to the Albury Wodonga Cancer Centre preferred to flowers.

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