Born: 25 October 1905, North Adelaide, Australia
Entered: 07 September 1927, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1939
Died: 29 December 1990, St Joseph, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931
WWII Chaplain

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Victor Turner was educated to sub-intermediate level at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, NSW, 1915-20, before attending Business College for over a year. He spent five years as an insurance clerk Vacuum Oil Company, and during that time thought about being a diocesan priest, a Columban, a Dominican, or a Redemptorist before deciding to apply for the Jesuits. He entered the noviciate at Greenwich, 7 September 1927, and spent ten years in England and Ireland in the normal studies of the Society without doing regency.
Returning to Australia in 1939, he taught at Riverview as a successful prefect, teacher and counsellor. He took great interest in games, especially cricket and rowing. However, his stay was short, as, when World War II broke out in 1939, and there was an appeal for Army chaplains, Turner volunteered in November 1940, and the next year went to New Guinea with the 2/22nd battalion of the Eighth Division. He was well respected by the troops, joining them in the “beer mess”, and caring especially for the spiritual needs of those Catholics who were less than fervent.
On 25 February 1942 he was taken prisoner by the Japanese and was confined to local prison camps. In July of that year he was sent to prison camps in ]apart until the end of the war. During this time he was openly able to administer to the spiritual needs of other prisoners, even saying Mass most of the time. As the first camp, Zentsuji, in southern Japan, he also gave courses in English literature, philosophy and religion, and was considered a good teacher. Fellow prisoners appreciated him for his “practical and interesting” sermons, and for the human way he connected so well with people. In June 1945 he was transferred to a camp in Hokkaido, where the cold was intense and the conditions very poor. They were relieved to experience the end of the war in August, and the Americans air-dropped supplies of food and clothing on the camp. When released, Turner returned to Australia via Sapporo and Yokohama. When reflecting upon his experiences, he considered himself privileged to have ministered in such miserable prisoner-of-war camps. Fellow prisoners later expressed that his optimism had given them encouragement. As a result of his war experiences he received a total invalid pension from the Australian government.
After his return to Australia in 1946, he served at Sr Ignatius' Church, Richmond, before joining a 'mission staff' giving parish missions and retreats around the country. After three years at this work, because of the shortage of priests, this idea of “mission priests” was abandoned, and Turner was appointed to Belloc House from 1951, working hard to break communistic influence in the Trade Unions. He was also director of retreats in Victoria and South Australia, and showed particular interest in the newly arrived Asian students then enrolling at Australian universities.
During this time Turner had a coronary thrombosis, but made a good recovery However, he was given less strenuous work and sent to Werribee in 1958 to be instructor and counselor for the young seminarians. This work he performed successfully until he was transferred to Loyola College, Watsonia for ten years in 1963 to be spiritual director to the scholastics, a job he undertook with fidelity and dedication.
From 1974 Turner lived quietly at the Provincial House in Hawthorn for sixteen years. In his ill health he learnt to live within his strength and gave edification to those who encountered him. He was bright and cheerful in community, giving retreats and spiritual direction, and was available as a confessor.
In his spiritual life he struggled with human weaknesses, conscious of his need for divine help to be a more perfect religious.
During his many years of ill health, Turner stood and waited. He let the Lord be the master of the years. He was not an intellectual high flyer, but tirelessly interested in learning. He was enthusiastic and optimistic about life, and welcomed all with cheerfulness. With a smile he claimed that his secret for a long life was to do as little as possible. He was an enjoyable person to engage in conversation, especially about trains and ships.

Note from Paul O’Flanagan Entry
He later returned to Australia, working with Victor Turner, 1949-50, in the Australian Mission team.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 17th Year No 3 1942
Australia :
Writing on 21st February last, Rev. Fr. Meagher Provincial, reports Fr. Basil Loughnan has gone off to be a Chaplain. We have three men Chaplains now. Fr. Turner was in Rabaul when we last heard of him and it would seem we shall not hear from him again for some time to come. Fr. F. Burke was in Greece and I don’t quite know where at the moment.

Born: 04 December 1892, Brighton Street, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 07 September 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1925, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1928, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 13 February 1955, St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Older brother of Noel - RIP 1947

Parents were in the grocery business but are now retired and living at Ennis, Beach Road, Sandringham, Victoria, Australia.

Eldest of four sons (2 deceased) with two older sisters (1 deceased)

Education at St Ignatius primary school at 15 he went to Xavier College Kew (1908-1911). For six months after leaving school he was with GFA Jones, solicitor, as a clerk.

Received by Fr J Brown, Australian Mission Superior and sent to Tullabeg.

by 1919 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1923 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying
by 1927 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Torn Hehir, elder brother to Noel, was a cheerful youth, always full of life and well to the fore when anything was being done. He was good at football and cricket, and educated at Xavier College. He studied law after he left school, and surprised his friends when he decided to enter the Society at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, 7 December 1912. He later gained a BA at the National University of Ireland in classics, studied philosophy at Jersey, 1918-21, and did regency at Belvedere College, 1921-22, before theology at Ore Place, Hastings. Tertianship was at Paray-le-Monial, France.
Hehir returned to Australia in 1927 and was on the staff of Xavier College for one year before going to St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, to take up duty as prefect of studies, a post that he held for eight years. He is remembered for being efficient and capable. The wayward quailed at the thought of an interview with him, but students found him most stimulating and inspiring. He had wide interests, was a voracious but selective reader with a most retentive memory.
In 1936 he was transferred to Riverview; but in 1937 he was back at St Aloysius' College for one year. The years 1938-39 were again spent teaching and as debating master at Riverview, but he returned again to St Aloysius' College in 1940 to take his brother Noel's place as rector. Sickness and the anxiety and worry of the war years caused him to age rapidly and he was a tired man when he was relieved of his burden in 1944. He gradually recovered to the extent that he was once again able to take the field as a football coach.
The best years of his life were spent at St Aloysius' College - he loved every stone of the place and he spent most of his holidays doing jobs in and around the school. He was interested in the senior students and enjoyed meeting Old Boys. Many of his former students, however, found him a very hard man, most severe in his manner and mode of disciplining. Most were scared of him, especially in his latter years.
For three years previous to his death he was deputy chairman of the NSW Catholic Secondary Teachers Association. He had most to do with the revision of the constitution of that body He was also the Catholic representative on the English syllabus committee for ten years.
He was a small man who worked hard and was steady and reliable. He was devoted to his younger brother, Noel, and after his death, Tom seemed to lose his own grip on life.