AustLit

Cartoonist, puppeteer and creator and voice of the Mr Squiggle puppet.

Norman Hetherington had his first cartoon published in the Bulletin in 1938. After serving with the 1st Australian Army Entertainment Unit in World War II, he became a freelance cartoonist in Sydney, New South Wales, accepting a job at the Bulletin in 1946 and working there until 1960. While at the Bulletin he met Norman Lindsay (q.v.). According to Hetherington's obituary, Lindsay gave his etching press to Hetherington who coninued to use it almost to the end of his life.

Hetherington became interested in puppetry in high school. While still working for the Bulletin he attended an Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) TV training school in 1956. His television career began with Nicky and Noodle, created with Annette Macarthur Onslow (q.v.) in 1956 for the ABC, followed by Jolly Gene and His Fun Machine (1957) for Channel Seven.

Mr Squiggle, a marionette with a pencil for a nose who lived on the moon, originated in 1959 on ABC television and appeared for the next 50 years. The scripts and books arising from the Mr Squiggle television program were written by Hetherington's wife Margaret Hetherington (q.v.).

Norman Hetherington's awards include life membership of the Australian Cartoonists' Association, 2008, the Jim Russell Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Cartooning in 2009, an award for excellence from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales in 2005 and, with Margaret Hetherington, Penguin Awards for outstanding contribution to Australian chidren's television in 1984 and 1989.

Source: Lindsay Foyle and Gerry Carman, 'Cartoonist Drew Mr Squiggle to Life', The Sydney Morning Herald (8 December 2010): 24