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Robert Turner
Failing the Breadwinner ideal
Robert Turner was a butcher by trade and
lived in Forbury Crescent, St. Kilda. On
31 August 1912 he shot and killed the eldest
of his seven children, twenty-five year
old Percy. It soon emerged that Robert was
alienated from his large family, living
in a stable beside their home. For 30 years
he had been a heavy drinker and for 11 years
he had seldom worked. This failure to provide
had forced his wife to 'go out washing'
and the children to start work at an early
age. During drunken sprees he was prone
to wandering about with loaded pistols.
The previous year he had been committed
to the Seacliff Mental Hospital for threatening
his family in this way. The morning of his
death Percy Turner had argued with his father
about his fecklessness and thrown him out
of the house. Mrs Turner tried to keep the
peace, getting Robert out of the way before
her son came home for lunch. But at lunchtime
Percy confronted his father again, this
time in the stable. Robert shot his son,
claiming later that he was afraid of him.
He then went to the Ocean View Hotel and
had a pint of beer before turning himself
in to the police. Robert was subsequently
acquitted of murder on the grounds of insanity
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