Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Albert James and Jane TURNER, Creek Farm, Morayfield, Queensland

# 2458(A)  TURNER Frank William                                         9th Battalion
Frank Turner was born at Chobham in Surrey, England on 6th March 1895, the elder son of Albert and Jane Turner. He attended a local Church of England School. In 1911 when Frank was 16, the Turner family embarked on the “Themistocles” in London and sailed to Australia, landing in Brisbane. The family then made their way to Toogoolawah and took up dairying at Creek Farm, Toogoolawah. Frank and his younger brother Victor were both employed at the Nestle and Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk Factory at Toogoolawah.
 
Frank travelled by train to Brisbane where he enlisted on 24th June 1915. He told the recruiting lieutenant he was 20 years old. He named his father of Creek Farm as his next of kin. Frank reported to Enoggera Camp where he was placed in a depot battalion before being assigned to the 5th Reinforcements for the 25thBattalion. Basic training in drill and musketry continued until 5th October when the reinforcements marched through the city to the Pinkenba Wharf and embarked on the “Warilda.”
The sea voyage ended at Suez and the reinforcements went into the 7th Brigade Training Battalion at Serapeum at about the same time that the Anzac force which had been on Gallipoli was evacuated to the Egyptian camps. In February 1916, a reorganisation of the AIF took place with the size of the force being doubled. During this reorganisation, Frank was transferred from the Training Battalion to the 9th Infantry Battalion and the letter A was added to his regimental number to distinguish him from an original man in the 9th with the same number.
Once at full strength of about 1,000, the 9th Battalion boarded a ship at Alexandria on 27th March 1916. On arrival in Marseilles seven days later, the battalion entrained for a journey to Northern France around Strazeele where the battalion settled into camp. During May, the battalion began to be introduced into the routines of trench warfare on the Western Front. In June, the battalion was rotating between the firing line and the support lines at Fromelles after which the battalion was relieved. July began with the 9th Battalion in comfortable billets around Outersteene but the quiet days were about to come to an end.
On 1st July 1916, General Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Forces in France and Belgium launched his big push with the opening of the Battle of the Somme. The battalions of Kitchener’s new army, mostly conscripts, suffered appalling losses; 60 000 casualties on the first day of whom 20,000 were killed. The gains of the offensive were minimal but Haig was committed to pushing on. In early July, three of the four Australian divisions in France and Belgium were moved south to the Somme where they would be thrust against the might of the German Armies. The primary objective was the high ridge on which nestled the village of Pozieres.
The 9th Battalion, as part of the 3rd brigade of the 1st Division AIF, began to move south from the Armentieres sector to Doullens on 10th July. The battalion bivouacked at Contalmaison for several days while the planning for the assault on Pozieres was finalised. It was high summer and the weather was hot. Many of the Australians spent the time lying on the grassy slopes watching aircraft doing battle high above. Summer daylight saving time meant that it did not get properly dark until after 9:30pm. All movement towards the front would have to take place then.
On 22nd July, the 9th Battalion was in position on the jumping off tapes in readiness for the artillery barrage. Soon after the infantry advanced under the artillery cover, Frank Turner was killed aged 21. A burial party located his body and was able to transport him to a newly established cemetery, Pozieres British Cemetery.
Pozieres shocked the Australian public with the number of casualties. During the fighting of the 22nd/23rdJuly alone, the 9th Battalion sustained 400 killed, wounded or missing. The casualty lists that were published daily in Australian newspapers during July and August ran to several pages. When the AIF was finally withdrawn from the battle in August, it had cost the AIF 23,000 casualties; the equivalent of an entire division.
In response to Frank’s name appearing in the casualty lists, a Miss Roblin wrote to the authorities from Dysart Park, Tasmania asking for any news. Albert Turner, writing from Toogoolawah wrote repeatedly to base records in Melbourne asking after Frank’s personal effects. Almost 12 months after Pozieres, Albert signed for two parcels which contained a wallet, tobacco pouch, cards, letters, photos, books, a scarf, ring and a fountain pen. In the early 1920s, Albert and Jane Turner left Toogoolawah and moved to Morayfield where they again named the farm Creek Farm. When permanent headstones were being erected for the war dead in France, Frank’s parents chose: IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE DEARLY LOVED SON OF MR AND MRS A. J. TURNER.
On the site of the Pozieres windmill today is a commemorative stone which reads:
“The ruin of the Pozieres windmill which lies here was the centre of the struggle on this part of the Somme Battlefield in July and August 1916. It was captured by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefields of the war.”