Norm Houghton (historian)
Norman Houghton (born 1948) is a historian and archivist in Geelong, Victoria, who has published more than 40 books, many focusing on timber tramways and sawmills of the Otway and Wombat Forests of Western Victoria, Australia. Most of his works have been self-published, while he has provided numerous articles to the newsletter and journal of the Light Railway Research Society of Australia. Early life Houghton grew up in Colac in southwest Victoria and attended Monash University, graduating in history. His interest in railway and forest history of Victoria's Otway Ranges was nurtured from an early age and resulted in his documentation and mapping of more than 300 sawmills and 160 kilometres of timber tramlines, which were built in the area from the 1850s to the mid 20th century. Houghton worked at Sovereign Hill Historical Gold Mining Village and the Gold Museum in Ballarat and undertook assessment of the archives of the Queensland Railways, before operationally establishing the Geelong Heritage Centre as its foundation Director in 1979, where he held the role of archivist with the Geelong Historical Records Centre for many decades, and was instrumental in assisting the Geelong Historical Society to collate and compile records which formed the basis