Neville Turner was an extraordinary person who had an extraordinary impact on the Australian Cricket Society during his term as President (1998~99 until 2000~01. Neville was a regular in the outer at first-class games at the MCG (and most other grounds in Australia and around the world). He sat with a regular group of cricket lovers who were all among the most knowledgeable around.
Neville’s sporting interests were in Cricket, Tennis (which he played very well) and Football (Soccer) and he was an outstanding jazz pianist and a lover of languages – he spoke five as well as being versed in classical Latin and Greek. He was a Legal Academic – Child Law and Children’s rights, Family Law, Contract Law, Law of Tort, Law and Literature and Sports Law.
Neville wrote ten books, 110 Journal articles, 40 Book Reviews and many articles and broadcasts. As President of the Society, he organised many Seminars, including The Packer Revolution, Cricket Literature, The State of Victorian Cricket, Cricket and Art, Youth Cricket, The Cricket Pay Dispute, Women’s Cricket and Cricket Equipment. He was a very effective advocate for the Australian Cricket Society with radio appearances, representations to cricketing bodies and cementing firm relationships with kindred bodies such as the MCC Library, MCC Museum and others.
Born in Bury, Lancashire, he was Captain of Tennis at Bury Grammar School and was adamant the Brian Statham was the greatest fast bowler that he had ever seen!
He was a Lawyer who came to Australia in 1965 on a working holiday (following Mike Smith’s Englishmen) and landed in Adelaide where he worked on contract at Adelaide University until 1971. He then moved to Monash University where he worked until his retirement in 1997.
Neville was a man who loved life. Sadly over the past three and a half years, he has been robbed of much of it with the onset of vascular dementia. Before that, Neville was a man who would light up a room with his sense of fun.