He was born in Perth, Western Australia. His family moved to Tokyo in 1907, when he was a young boy. Norman was educated at the American School in Japan. The family returned to Perth in 1915, and then moved to Adelaide in 1917. Tindale got a job at the Adelaide Public Library. In January 1919, he got a job at the South Australian Museum as entomologist's assistant to Arthur Mills Lea. He had already published thirty-one papers on entomological, ornithological and anthropological subjects before receiving his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Adelaide in March 1933.