Sensei Turnbull

When John Turnbull’s great-great grandparents landed in
Australia in the early 1800s they settled in a region of the
Hunter Valley which was still almost entirely wilderness.
They brought with them not only the hardy self-sufficiency
and enterprise needed for wilderness pioneering, but also a
heritage of martial art expertise, for there had been notable
exponents of boxing, wrestling, fencing and shooting for
generations on both sides of the family, including a
legendary warrior chieftain of Scotland’s McDonald clan.
Naturally enough, in those tough pioneering days in a new
and totally uncivilized land, they taught their children all the
survival skills they could, including how to ride, shoot, box
and swim. One of the girls was as good a boxer as the
boys, and to the family’s hilarity became renowned as the
best fighter in the district after she confronted a school
bully, and when he threatened her, knocked him
unconscious with a single blow.



One of her brothers, James, was later acclaimed as the best 
fighter on the country roads for his boxing skill. While working 
as a haulier, transporting wool to Sydney from the inland 
sheep stations by bullock team, he often had to defend himself 
against challengers envious of his reputation. In one famous 
match he was forced to fight the Hawkesbury Valley Champion, 
although he had tried to avoid the encounter, since he
believed combat skill should only be used for self defence 
and not for egotistic sport.

This all-in bare knuckle fight was held on the banks of the 
Hawkesbury River at Windsor. It lasted three pain-filled 
hours, for in those days a round only finished when one
of the contestants was knocked down or thrown to the 
ground, and the contest only ended if he couldn’t get up 
within one minute. James Clark finally won by throwing his
challenger into the river. That throw nearly proved fatal, 
for it was immediately apparent that the Hawkesbury fighter 
couldn't swim, and neither could any of the spectators - not
many people could in those days! So, exhausted though 
he was, James had to dive in and rescue him!

Another incident in that primitive and violent era of early 
Australian settlement had a less fortunate ending. John’s 
great-grandmother and James’s sister, Susanna Clark, was
engaged to a handsome young Hunter Valley man named 
Peter Clark (who was no relation), and they were planning 
to marry on his return from a trip inland beyond the Great 
Dividing Range to buy cattle. His party was held up by a 
bushranger near the upper reaches of the Hunter Valley, 
and when the thief tried to take Peter’s gold watch, Peter
leap on him. Tragically, however, the bushranger managed 
to bring his revolver to bear during the struggle, shooting 
him through the neck and the heart. But even in death his
grip on the murderer was so strong that James, who was 
then only a teenager, was able to rush in from some 20 
metres away and secure a wrestling grip which brought       
him to the ground. There he choked him into submission 
so others in the party could tie him up with pack straps. 
Afterward he thanked God that he had been taught how 
to wrestle.



The party’s impulse was to hang the bushranger there and 
then, but they decided justice would be better served by 
taking him to civilisation so the law could run its course
and hang him in front of a larger public. And so it came about. 
Two other travelers whom he had robbed and assaulted 
and left tied to trees were found in a pitiful condition and
released by James’s party. He was thought to be a terrorist 
on the run from the police in Ireland. He gave his name as 
Henry Wilson, which was obviously false, and refused to
say more. He was hanged at Maitland Goal on October 4, 1863.

Peter Clark was so loved and respected throughout the 
district that when a public subscription was launched to 
erect a memorial in his honour, it was so oversubscribed
that as well as the memorial, a vault was built for his body 
to rest in at Musselbrook. His memorial still stands today, 
lonely and largely forgotten, on the remote and heavily
wooded side of Waldron Range where he died. John’s 
great-grandmother was so distressed by the death of 
her fiance that she became very ill, and it was feared 
she would die from a broken heart. She remained single 
for 20 more years, earning a place in Australia’s history 
as the first school teacher in the upper Hunter Valley 
during an era when few children had an opportunity to 
learn how to read and write. She eventually married John’s 
Great-great-grandfather.

From these and many other exciting stories of his family 
history, John inherited a great love of wilderness 
adventure and the self defence arts. He began 
training in boxing at nine years of age, and during 
his teens began studying aiki-jitsu under Les Byers, 
the talented manager of Bjelke-Petersen’s Gymnasium 
in Sydney.

This was Australia’s largest gymnasium for the several decades 
that Les Byers was manager. He was the first Australian, and 
one of the first Europeans anywhere in the world, to reach a 
high standard in Japanese martial art. His total dedication        
to the selfdefence arts had enabled him to become a personal 
student of the Japanese master Shima Sensei, an Aiki-jitsu 
expert who lived in Australia during the 1920s.

Les was a renowned physical culture expert. He taught 
strength and body building as well as boxing, wrestling, 
judo and jujitsu, and had vast street experience.        
One of his leading jujitsu students, Ray Vercoe, went on 
to study martial art while stationed in Japan with the 
Occupation Forces following World War II. On his return 
to Sydney he established the Pancratium club at Bankstown 
where John was a foundation member.



The club flourished for many years as a leading Australian 
centre for the study of self defence and unarmed combat,
attracting the nation’s leading martial artists, including 
several national judo champions and an Olympic medal
winner.
In 1965 John abandoned all other martial art and began 
studying Aikido daily with Seiichi Sugano, then a young
Fifth Degree Aikido teacher newly arrived from the Aikido 
Headquarters in Japan.
    
Aikido immediately became the centre of his life. Its 
philosophical and spiritual insights provided the solutions 
of problems he had been trying to solve all his life.
He had already developed the strict habit of daily training, 
and the esoteric meditation and ki-focussing exercises 
of Aikido led him to the ki-circulation and mind focusing 
exercises in Taoism and Zen on which the inner essence 
of Aikido is based.
       
He moved to Australia’s capital city Canberra, where in 
1968 he established the Australian National University 
Aikido Club, which flourished for 30 years, becoming the
ANU Aikido Club (John Turnbull Sensei) in 1998.

Aikido’s Founder, O’Sensei Ueshiba, considered his art to 
be an integral part of living in harmony with Nature, and 
spent much of his time in the outdoors. John also grew
up with a great love of the outdoors and the aesthetics 
of wilderness. As well as classical indoors Aikido training, 
he conducts special weekend training events inthe mountains,
as well as at the seaside during summer and at the 
snowfields in winter.

For recreation and inspiration, he loves the harmony with
nature which naturally arises in activities such as flyfishing
and skiing, both of which he teaches at universities and
colleges.

He has written a series of books on outdoor recreation,
appeared on national television and radio, made successful
videos about flyfishing and backcountry skiing. He prepared a
major submission to the Senate inquiry into the environmental
and social effects of clearcutting native forests for woodchips,
and it was largely due to this and his media campaign which
revealed the environmentally destructive manner in which this
industry was being conducted, that dramatic changes were
made in its operations.
He believes we should cherish this planet which is our
home, for all of our future is by it.
He totally agrees with O’Sensei when he said:

“Every life, every speck of matter, every element or
vibration is an integral part of the whole which is the Creator.
As children of the Creator and a part of the Creator, we must
not pollute, nor destroy, nor distort, nor damage in any way
even the smallest part of that which He created. We are
responsible for nurturing the riches of the earth; we must
cherish all the delicate jewels of life entrusted to our care. If
even one person will see his clearly, the ki of the universe
will naturally permeate that enlightened being. He shall be
the echo of God generating positive vibrations and actions to
influence others.