Alfred Jefferis Turner

Alfred Jefferis Turner (1861 to 1947) was a pediatrician and amateur entomologist, born in Canton, China, the son of the missionary Frederick Storrs-Turner. He studied medicine at University College London, graduating with first class honours, and emigrated to Australia in 1888. The next year he became the first medical officer of the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane, then called the Hospital for Sick Children. In 1895 he introduced the use of diphtheria antitoxin to Australia. His clinical research and influence helped reduce child deaths in Queensland, and he worked on hookworm-induced anaemia, lead poisoning, the quality of children's milk, health education for expectant and nursing mothers and the establishment of antenatal clinics. He played a pivotal part in combating the bubonic plague epidemic of 1900 and in making the notification of tuberculosis compulsory in 1904. Known for his mild manner and love of children, he was nicknamed Gentle Annie. Outside medicine he specialised in Lepidoptera and left more than 50,000 moth specimens to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Canberra. The Jefferis Turner Centre for mothercraft, opened in 1952, carries his name.