At the family home in Glenelg he set up a “studio” in the backyard tool-shed where he spent endless hours reading to himself the pages of the Adelaide “Advertiser” newspaper.

In 1937 he was accepted by Anglican Archbishop Howard Mowll for training for the Ministry in Moore Theological College. After two Sydney parishes he and his wife May spent several years in outback New South Wales as Bush Missionaries.

The outbreak of World War II in 1939 interrupted his studies which he resumed in 1946 at Emmanuel College at the University of Queensland. This was the training college for the Presbyterian Church and he was Licensed in 1951.

When the Uniting Church in Australia came into being in 1977, the Rev Vernon Turner joined, along with many other Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Ministers.

Rev Vernon Turner photo by Ramon Williams

In 1938 Mr Turner began a weekly broadcast of “Church News” on Station 2CH in Sydney which continued for many years and later on his own 2CBA-FM in Sydney. Station 4BC in Brisbane asked him to broadcast “Morning Devotions” at 9 o’clock every morning, which he did for more than 20 years. The program was then heard on 2CBA-FM until his retirement in 1996.

From his tiny office in Castlereagh Street he continued to prepare his broadcasts of “Morning Devotions” and “The Sunshine Hour” adding the “Morning Interlude” program which was broadcast on 2UW in Sydney for seven years.

At the end of 1953 the Presbyterian Church ordained him and inducted him into the Abbotsford-Five Dock Churches and studios were erected in the Five Dock Church, Sydney.

By the end of the 1950s Mr Turner and his Staff were producing 800 weekly programs for 100 commercial stations in all States of Australia. Amongst them were such programs as “Counsellor”, “Rev Gordon Powell”, “World Church News” and “From the Bible” as well as others.

In 1955 he called the first meeting of the Christian Television Association and was its first secretary. By 1960 the staff at CBA had grown to 15 full time paid staff.

A new building became an urgent necessity and in February 1961 new studios were opened at 420 Lyons Road, Five Dock by the Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Control Board. It contained three studios, two production booths, a record and tape library, a dispatch room and a large office. Downstairs was a print shop and library..

The radio ministry grew apace and in 1975 the Commonwealth Government asked the Christian Broadcasting Association to operate Australia’s first ethnic radio station 2EA, which it did for three years.

Having applied for an FM Radio licence for Sydney 23 years before, it was finally granted in 1978 and station 2CBA-FM began broadcasting in March 1979, Australia’s first Christian station on the FM band.

From that date the Station has operated 24 hours a day on high power, broadcasting to the whole Sydney metropolitan area. Station 2CBA-FM has been highly successful in reaching and helping people of all ages in need.

A frequent comment from listeners is: “Thank you for being there when I needed you. You saved my life.”

He wrote several books including “The Red Octopus”, “How to Keep Your Marriage Off the Rocks”, “The Art of Christian Broadcasting” and “God Gave Me A microphone” which went into four editions.

In 1991 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “for Service to Christian Broadcasting” and a Citation from Cardinal Edward Clancy.

From the time he made his first microphone at seven years of age and during more than 50 years of Christian broadcasting the Rev Vernon Turner dedicated his communication skills to his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, claiming that all results of his ministry were from God’s Holy Spirit alone.

His funeral will be held in St David’s Uniting Church, Haberfield, on Friday, November 24 at 11.00am. We praise God for a pioneer Christian broadcaster and journalist, the Rev Vernon Kenneth Turner OAM.

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Ramon Williams is an Australian photographer and journalist living in Sydney, Australia, with his wife Dorothy. They served as WEC missionaries in Java, Indonesia from 1959-1967. Ramon was awarded the Gutenberg Award in 1987 by the Australian Religious Press Association and the 1994 Malcolm Muggeridge Award for Service Through the Media, by the Australian Federation of Festival of Light. His aim is "To tell others what others are doing for the Lord". His ministry is known as Worldwide Photos Ltd - The Religious Media Agency, PO Box 494, Padstow NSW 2211, Australia; rlgmedia@ozemail.com.au