It's been 70 years since a tragic accident on the Princes Highway near Narooma shocked the South Coast.
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In a blink of an eye the Turner family was changed forever.
Nowra man Bob Turner, who turned 80 earlier in the year, was just 10-years-old at the time of the accident that killed his parents and sister
He was also critically injured in the accident, and wasn't expected to live, while his three other brothers also suffered injuries.
As the 70th anniversary of the accident passes, he has retold his family's heartbreaking story.
It was June 23, 1949 and William and Vera Turner were taking their five children on their first ever holiday.
It was hard back then to get time away from the family dairy farm on Berry Mountain but the couple had managed to arrange it and along with Bill ,14, Mavis ,12, Bob then 10, John ,9, and Ray ,6, were headed south to relatives at Bega.
Disaster struck around 2.30pm near Lawlers Creek between Bodalla and Narooma. A tragic accident killed William, Vera and Mavis.
The family was travelling in its 1929 Buick Tourer, which had a canvas top.
Newspaper reports from the time said the Department of Main Roads (DMR) had a large truck bogged and had a wire rope, described as a hawser, across the highway attached to a stump to winch the stricken vehicle out.
Despite warnings, Mr Turner didn't see the wire rope, which was about waist high and it sliced through the top of the vehicle, ripping off the top fittings, windscreen, steering wheel and hood.
William and Vera were killed instantly, while Mavis, who was thrown from the vehicle, also died.
Bill, Bob, John and Ray were all injured, with Bob suffering critical head injuries. He was unconscious for eight days.
He suffered a fractured jaw, almost severed his tongue and his bottom teeth were knocked out.
"There wasn't much traffic on the road at the time, so I suppose they thought it was safe to do," Bob said.
"We all hit the back of the back seat.
"There was a worker waving his arms and I remember Dad saying 'what's this silly bugger doing?' Then we hit the wire.
"I remember waking up in Moruya hospital. I had to have my jaw wired - my uncle had to give permission for that to happen."
He was put in an ambulance and transferred to Wade House at the Camperdown Children's Hospital where he spent six weeks.
"When I came out I couldn't walk - they kept you in bed back then and you weren't allowed to get out," he said.
"I remember there was a shop owner nearby and he would bring me a little quarter pound block of Cadbury chocolate which I could just fit bits between my wired teeth.
"I found out later my Uncle Stan arranged that."
Bob was given little hope of living when he was pulled from the vehicle.
In fact, rescuers initially thought he was also dead and it was only once they went back and checked that they found a weak pulse.
"They tell me I was just a pool of blood."
He still has the scars from his ordeal.
Bill suffered a broken arm and cuts to his head, John facial injuries and remarkably Ray who was also seated in the front with his parents, slipped down behind the front dash and suffered a bad cut to his nose which required a stitch.
The Turners had farmed at Ocean View on the Berry Mountain, a 161 acre property of which "a fair bit was bush."
"Dad milked 30 cows and would send our cream off in the winter after we separated it by hand," Bob said.
A Nowra Leader report [July 1, 1949] said that Mr and Mrs Turner were highly esteemed residents of the district and were deservedly popular among their large circle of friends.
That was further demonstrated by the large turn out at the funeral at the Nowra Church of England which was described as "one of the largest seen in Nowra for a considerable time with over 100 cars following the cortege."
As was the norm back then, the children were split up and placed with other family members.
Bob and John went to live with their uncle and aunt, Ernie and Nellie Turner in Kangaroo Valley, Bill with another uncle and aunt, Harry and Edna Turner at Jaspers Brush, while Ray lived with his father's sister Emily and Bill Hitchcock in Bridge Road, Nowra.
"There were plans to send me south to family at Bega but they thought it would be unfair to have three of the boys up here and one down there," Bob said.
More than 12 months later the Supreme Court awarded Bob, then just 11, a record compensation amount of 8150 pounds. The other boys were also awarded compensation, which remained in trust until they were 21.
The story of Bob's record compensation made the front page of The Sun newspaper.
Uncle Jim Turner rented the family farm before it was sold more than a decade later for 10,000 pounds - that property sold in 2011 for millions.
Bob and John eventually farmed with their Uncle Ernie at Bolong, across the road from what was formerly the papermill, later buying their uncle out and continuing to farm.
Bill worked for his Uncle Harry for a while before buying a truck and driving for a timber company. He then worked the papermill and then Nowra General Agents transport company.
Ray went on to get a job as a printer working at the Nowra News before working at a printing company in Bomaderry.
All four brothers still live in the Shoalhaven today - Bill at Elder Crescent, Bob in Plunkett Street, Ray in Collier Avenue and John at Hanigans Lane, Bolong.
Robert Crawford
Robert Crawford is a senior journalist at the South Coast Register, for Australian Community Media . Everyone's got a story, what's yours? Email robert.crawford@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Robert Crawford is a senior journalist at the South Coast Register, for Australian Community Media . Everyone's got a story, what's yours? Email robert.crawford@austcommunitymedia.com.au
