Norman Arthur Wakefield (28 November 1918 – 23 September 1972) was an Australian teacher, naturalist, paleontologist and botanist, notable as an expert on ferns.
Wakefield was born in Romsey, Victoria, and educated at state schools in Orbost and at Scotch College, Melbourne with a BSc in biology.
[1][2] In the early 1960s he made broadcasts on school nature study for the ABC, as well as writing a regular column for the Melbourne Age 1963–1971.
He founded its Fauna Group and also edited its journal, the Victorian Naturalist 1953–1964, contributing 126 articles on ornithology, botany and history.
[1][2] Wakefield was killed at the age of 53 in a fall from a tree, while lopping branches, in his garden at his home in Sherbrooke, Victoria.