David Turner’s involvement with the University of Sydney has been extensive. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture, having graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1971, and later coming back to complete a Masters in Design Science in 1997. He has been an alumni representative, firstly on the Architecture Alumni Council and now on the University Alumni Council. He is a parent, with both children currently studying at the University of Sydney. Finally, he is a donor, a supporter of the C. H. L. Turner Prize, created by David’s mother in memory of his late brother, and of the Faculty of Architecture’s student bursary fund.

David entered the University of Sydney in 1964, initially following his father into science, but persuading his parents two years later that he should pursue architecture instead. He lived at St Paul's College, where in those days freshmen wore 'sackcloth and ashes' (a costume of an old sugar bag and a cardboard nametag) for their first term. College activities in those days included 'rowing races' on the college oval, serenading the 'freshettes' at Women's College (who returned the favour with fire hoses and flour bombs), and comprehensively disabling the cars of those foolish enough to park illegally in the grounds. The students' interest in motor vehicles extended as far as dismantling the warden's Goggomobil, and reassembling it on the roof of one of the college buildings.

David also recalls the 'freshers walkabout,' where hapless first years were driven to a secret destination and abandoned to make their own way back: he remembers leaving one poor soul within sight of the city lights – what the person didn't realise was that the city they were headed for was Wollongong, not Sydney. David's other contributions to college life in the mid '60s included coaching the Women’s College 'Freshettes' football team, and driving his mini in the College car rally.

An involvement in student drama led to taking a production of Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair to Brisbane. This interest in drama also led to involvement in Architecture revues, including the ambitiously named The New Bigger All-Electric Polyunsaturated Enid Blyton Super-Song Spectacular: the 1960s were a golden age for architecture revues, with a number of architecture alumni forging careers in showbusiness. In 1968, David made a short film with fellow architecture student Ross Thorne, The Charge of the Light Brigade, depicting the stampede of office workers towards their trains at the end of the working day.

In his final year at University in 1970, David organised the Australian Architecture Student Association convention in Sydney, and sent it broke by mounting a program that featured six hundred students, a medieval pageant, a Scottish pipe band, a night out at Luna Park, and a list of speakers that included prominent architects, politicians Bob Hawke and Billy Sneddon, poet Kath Walker (Oodgeroo Noonuccal), and a 75 year old Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the Geodesic Dome. The convention's extensive debts were overlooked by some very forgiving creditors.

David went on to have a successful career as a practising architect, and to marry a fellow Sydney graduate, pathologist Dr Jennifer J Turner (MBBS '71): after David proposed by telephone from London, they were married in Belsize Park in Camden, by the appropriately named Reverend Mr Truss. Jennifer has family connections to the University: her father, Dr Robert (Bobby) Silverton (MB '15 BS '16) was also a medical alumnus, as is her half-brother Dr Robert J Silverton MBBS '54. That family connection continues today: Josephine Turner is a recent graduate (BDes (Architecture / Digital Media) '06) and Hugh Turner is studying Mechatronic Engineering and Commerce.

The Turner family's philanthropic involvement in the University also has its roots in a family connection. David's older brother Christopher ('Kip') was also a student of Architecture at Sydney, but in 1961, in the fifth year of his studies, Kip, who suffered from epilepsy, died suddenly and unexpectedly. David's mother endowed a prize in his memory, the C. H. L. Turner Memorial Prize, awarded annually to a Bachelor of Architecture graduand who has demonstrated excellence in architectural design. The prize has been awarded every year since. The first winner was Andrew Andersons AO (BArch '64, BSc(Arch) '64), subsequently David's boss at the Government Architect's office, and now Principal Director, PTW Architects. The 2006 winner was Leigh Tay.

In addition to supporting the C. H. L. Turner Memorial Prize, David was also instrumental in promoting a student bursary fund at the Faculty of Architecture to make funds available for students facing financial difficulties during their studies. While such a fund notionally existed, lack of funds made it ineffective: through the contributions of David and others, the bursary fund is now in a better position to make a difference to students who face urgent need. Describing the need for such a fund, David describes it as 'money set aside to help kids with a little bit of cash to get them over a crisis. If they're good students, why not give them a helping hand if they need it?'

Links:
Architecture student bursary fund

Architecture Development