Noel's (Mopsy) first job in 1956 was an assistant patrolman with the Orbost Shire.  He started work with the Forests Commission in 1957 when he was employed as a treemarker to assist with surveying roads in the Cann River District. 

He then moved to Club Terrace from where he attended the 1962 Foremans School in Broadford.  After graduation he was stationed first in the Erica District, then the Daylesford, Beechworth and, in mid-1963, as a qualified Foreman in the Omeo Forest District (Swifts Creek).  While in Swifts Creek, Noel invented a 'Fraser Drum Seed Extractor' which became the basic model for large eucalyptus seed extraction facilities built in other Districts.

After resigning from the Commission in 1975, he was employed as a forests operations manager for a Ezard's Swifts Creek sawmill, a fuel truck driver, built and ran the Tambo Valley Holiday Lodge, managed the forest operations for Gould's sawmill in Marysville then drove coaches for McKenzie's buslines until his retirement in 1996.