He’s one of New Zealand’s most celebrated poets and writers, hailing from one of its most legendary sporting families, but you would never find Brian Turner bragging on that.

Instead, he’s lived a quiet life in the tiny, rural Central Otago town of Oturehua – the land he loves, its natural beauty, landscapes and people inspiring his award-winning creative poetry and literary works.

Now in care locally, Brian dealing with advanced Alzheimer’s, much younger brother Greg Turner, one of NZ’s top golf pros in his day, recounts the life of a big brother he held in high esteem despite an almost 20-year age gap.

Born in Dunedin in March,1944, while his dad, Alf Turner, was away fighting in World War II, it was several years before Brian got to meet his father.

Turner family life was full of fun and laughter, with Brian inheriting Alf’s wit and sense of humour, along with the family sporting prowess.

With Greg’s famous NZ Cricket Captain brother Glenn Turner almost 16 years his senior, he says he’d always joke that he “didn’t have two brothers, but three fathers”. 

‘’Initially Brian would be grumpy with that, but he came to like it,” he grins.

From left, Greg, Brian and Glenn during a seaside catch up. PHOTO: Supplied

Family camping holidays were spent far and wide, Dad leading the family into the back of beyond, starting with Sunday drives in the old Chrysler for Brian and Glenn up to Lake Mahinerangi.

It was in these wide open spaces that Brian’s love of poetry and words was born.

“I remember we’d go camping on the old Ohau River before the canals went in,” Greg says. 

“He’d occasionally take me out climbing and tramping into his early 30s, me just 13. 

“It was not ideal for him, but I think he took on a bit of a paternal instinct as my much older brother.”

Brian introduced Greg to his passion for mountaineering early on but that clearly didn’t stick. 

“He took me climbing to Mount MacPherson near the Homer Tunnel in my teens. That was enough to convince me, hanging over a cliff, 1000 feet up on a rope thinking, ‘This is not me at all!’.”

However, an accomplished top-level sportsman – Brian played hockey internationally for NZ in the late 1960s, early 70s, his dad was a first- class cricket umpire and cycling coach, and brother Glenn played professionally in England by the age of 20. 

Brian, taking in the land he loves. PHOTO: Jillian Sullivan.

He was a veteran road cyclist and experienced mountaineer, knocking off most of NZ’s major peaks, definitely all of the South Island’s.

Greg credits one of the reasons for his own success as a champion international golfer to that strong sporting heritage. 

“I only ever remember Brian and Glenn representing NZ so reaching that level didn’t feel abnormal for me. It never felt unattainable because of the path they’d led.”

Brian has been highly regarded in road cycling circles, tenacity one of his traits. He also has a strong competitive streak.

“At Otago Boys’ they reckoned he was a better cricketer than Glenn and that Glenn was a better hockey player,” Greg smiles.

Brian in his happy place - Central Otago. PHOTO: Jillian Sullivan

Greg cherishes memories of Brian caddying for him during the peak of his professional golfing career – invaluable insight and guidance alongside from an elite top-level sportsman and big brother. 

“He caddied for me when I won the 1997 NZ Open and on the circuit in Australia and Europe, so that was kind of fun,” he says. 

“While not a golfer he was a top sportsman and there are a lot of mental things that cross those boundaries in high performance sport so that was really helpful.”

As for the poetry and writing, nobody including Brian, really knows where that emerged from although their father, who’d lacked an education, was always hungry for words and knowledge, deliberately choosing new words that he didn’t know.

“Poets can elicit a whole lot of emotions in a single line as they allow themselves to go places that most of us don’t,” Greg says. 

Brian is expert at this, a deep, intelligent thinker who doesn’t take things lightly.

“He has such an intense love of the outdoors and natural NZ, and a lot of his poems relate to that.”

At about 20 Brian began scribbling words into what is now a large collection of notebooks, soon landing a job with the NZ branch of Oxford University Press in Wellington. 

Brian, absorbed in his love of words. PHOTO: Jillian Sullivan

He told The Spinoff with a twinkle in a 2021 interview that when you start writing you can’t stop. 

‘There’s not much you can do about it.’ 

About then he says he started writing quite seriously. 

‘It’s partly an art – you’ve got to have good technique, you’ve got to persist, you’ve got to train hard.’

His earliest collection, Ladders of Rain, was published by John McIndoe in 1978, Brian earning the prestigious Commonwealth Poetry Prize a year later. 

Numerous top awards followed from the J.C. Reid Memorial Prize in 1985 and Montana NZ Book Award for Poetry in 1993 to his fourth Te Mata Estate NZ Poet Laureate in 2003, the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry in 2009, a NZ Book Award and Officer of the NZ Order of Merit Queens Birthday Honour in 2020 for services to literature and poetry. 

Most recently he was honoured late last year with a newly-created award specifically designed for him – NZ Poet Laureate of Nature.

Brian relaxing in his beloved Central. PHOTO: Jillian Sullivan

Brian’s written for stage, radio and TV, newspaper columns and reviews, moving from Dunedin to the land he loves – the Ida Valley and Oturehua in 1999. 

He’s published a myriad of books, including three best-seller NZ sports books – Colin Meads’ second biography, Josh Kronfeld’s and Anton Oliver’s first, cricket books with brother Glenn, books on fishing, the high country and eight collections of poetry.

Something of Southern Man literary fame, while he’s still with us, there’s even a ‘memorial plaque’ dedicated to Brian on the Writers’ Walk in Dunedin’s Octagon.

One of NZ’s most significant writers on landscape, the environment and sport, Brian is also a fierce fighter for the Otago and Central Otago environment. 

An honorary life member and co-founder of the Central Otago Environmental Society, Brian has been something of an activist and politician in his day. He and his mates formed the South Island Independents Movement and Greg recalls Brian actively fighting against a planned aluminium smelter in Aramoana, near Dunedin. 

He was also a core member of the Central Otago environmental group opposing wind farms in the Maniototo, always a strong advocate on environmental issues.

The first writer to settle in what is now a rich Central Otago enclave of literary talent in the heart of the Maniototo, Brian – a good friend of the likes of artist Grahame Sydney and actor Sam Neill, is not only a poet and writer. His words emerge from the rolling tussock lands and dry arid plains of Central Otago as art. 

Footnote: Sadly, Brian Turner passed away a week after we published this article. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.Renowned writer Brian Turner dies

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