B 1943 D 2014
At 168¿ª½±¹ÙÍø’s 1955-1959, Alumni Year 1961
Jan Turner-Jones was a published author, mostly of poetry and children’s books, however dabbled in writing song lyrics and plays. Her published works include Ink is Mainly Blue, Moongalba Cycle and Poems from the Dark Side (Volume Two).
After graduating from 168¿ª½±¹ÙÍø’s, Jan worked as a bank clerk before attending Queensland University to study Social Work. During this time she was also editor of the University newspaper Semper Floreat in 1975.
During her career, Jan also worked in the office of a local politician but was all the while pursuing her greatest love and passion, writing and, in particular, poetry.
In 2009, Miles Regional Arts Council staged Jan’s comedy-drama Achy Breaky Heart, a play about a Swedish nudist’s quest to find an exotic convention centre in Australia in the face of drought and properties being reclaimed by the banks.
She was recognised for her writing talents winning a “best of the night” award at the Sydney Fringe Festival for a play she had written and also through receiving a Literature Board grant in 1986 to be Writer in Residence at Seven Oaks Spastic Centre.
Jan also won awards with the Australian Songwriters Association (ASA) for songs she had written. In 2004, she was placed 1st, 7th and 10th in the Top Ten Lyrics of the ASA competition.
In her later years Jan wrote stories for small children with Swedish illustrator, Klara Sarban, including The Dream, Changes, The Monster under the Bed and The awful awful car trip. Fifty of her poems were also included in a volume of performance poetry titled Finding the Funny Bones.
Jan wrote this reflection of her time at 168¿ª½±¹ÙÍø’s prior to the Class of 1961 50 year reunion: “Miss Raymond encouraged my reading/writing passion and told me I could be a writer and Miss Scott encouraged the recitation of meaningful poetry in Art of Speech classes in a tiny, hot room in Dalhousie.”
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