31 Facts About Reg Turnbull

Reginald John David "Spot" Turnbull was an Australian politician.

Reg Turnbull was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1946 to 1961, then a Senator for Tasmania from 1962 until 1974.

Reg Turnbull's mother was born in Singapore, and his father was an Australian journalist working on the North China Daily News.

Reg Turnbull's father died when he was a boy and his mother remarried to Enos Soren Thellefsen, a Danish diplomat in the Shanghai International Settlement.

Reg Turnbull began his schooling at Jewell's Private Day Boarding School in Shanghai, before completing his secondary education in Australia at Wesley College, Melbourne.

Reg Turnbull was nicknamed "Spot" from a young age due to a prominent mole on his forehead.

Reg Turnbull commenced studying medicine at the University of Melbourne in 1928 and graduated MBBS in 1933.

Reg Turnbull undertook his residency in Queensland at the Brisbane General Hospital, returning to Melbourne in 1936 and then establishing a general practice in Launceston, Tasmania.

In 1942, Turnbull enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, having previously spent six years in the Melbourne University Regiment.

Reg Turnbull continued to practise medicine throughout his subsequent political career.

Reg Turnbull became a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

Reg Turnbull was removed from the medical register in New South Wales, and took unsuccessful legal action against the New South Wales Medical Board to have his name reinstated.

Reg Turnbull was eventually reinstated in December 1976 and ran a practice at George Town until his retirement in 1986.

Reg Turnbull became involved in politics through his advocacy for compulsory tuberculosis screening, which the Australian Labor Party supported.

Reg Turnbull was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly at the 1946 state election, topping the poll in the seat of Bass.

In 1948, Reg Turnbull was appointed minister for health in the government of Robert Cosgrove, a position he would hold for over a decade.

Reg Turnbull was additionally appointed state treasurer in October 1956, serving under Cosgrove and his successor Eric Reece.

Reg Turnbull resigned from cabinet in June 1958 after being charged with accepting a bribe from George Fitzpatrick, a Sydney businessman, in relation with a lotteries licence.

Reg Turnbull denied the allegations and stated that Fitzpatrick had in fact offered to bribe him, which he reported to police.

Reg Turnbull was found not guilty of corruption in October 1958, and returned to his prior portfolios.

The ALP caucus unanimously voted for Reg Turnbull to be removed from the ministry, but he refused to resign and Reece had to instruct the administrator, Stanley Burbury, to revoke Reg Turnbull's commission.

Reg Turnbull chose to recontest Bass as an independent, resulting in his automatic expulsion from the Labor Party.

Reg Turnbull was re-elected with a personal vote of 28 percent, a record for an independent.

Reg Turnbull resigned from state parliament on 30 October 1961 to stand for the Senate at the 1961 federal election.

Reg Turnbull was elected to a six-year term beginning on 1 July 1962 and won re-election to a further six-year term at the 1967 election.

Reg Turnbull served as Mayor of Launceston from 1964 to 1965.

Reg Turnbull played a key role in the VIP aircraft affair of 1966, with his questions on the Holt government's use of RAAF aircraft prompting revelations that prime minister Harold Holt had misled parliament.

Reg Turnbull did not recontest his seat at the 1974 federal election, stating he "just didn't like the atmosphere" in parliament.

In 1929, Reg Turnbull married Elizabeth Ffrost, with whom he had three children.

Reg Turnbull was widowed in the mid-1980s and remarried in 1987 to Nell Fullerton, the daughter of surgeon John Ramsay.

Reg Turnbull died in Melbourne on 17 July 2006 at the age of 98.