The boom ended by the early 1890s and the subsequent fall in property prices led to bankruptcies, the collapse of building societies and a loss of confidence in the banking sector.

Turner was a prolific writer on a range of cultural, historical and political subjects, producing articles, publications and delivering lectures.

[6] After settling in the inner-city suburb of South Yarra, Turner began to pursue a range of cultural and recreational interests.

[A] Turner joined a theatrical group called the Histrionic Society, with which he performed in city theatres and country towns.

On holidays he undertook activities such as climbing the You Yangs, a three-day walk along the Mornington Peninsula and a horseback ride to the Murray River and into New South Wales.

[3] The Commercial Bank had recently been the subject of extensive fraud by Thomas Draper, its chief accountant, and its balance sheet was in a "most unsatisfactory" state.

By the mid-1880s the Commercial Bank held deposits of £2,250,000, a reserve fund of £120,000, paid a ten percent dividend, and had opened branches throughout The Mallee, Goulburn Valley and the Western District of Victoria, as well as in London, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane.

[24][25] Turner and Arthur P. Martin, a writer and secretary of the Eclectic Association, established a literary magazine named The Melbourne Review with initial capital of £100.

[26] The quarterly magazine, described as being "devoted to social, philosophical, speculative, and general literary subjects", was commenced in January 1876 and edited by Martin for the first six years.

[43] In 1887 Turner purchased land in Tennyson Street, St. Kilda, on which he had constructed 'Bundalohn', a grand double-storey brick house in the Italianate style.

[46] In May 1889 Turner, in his role as president of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, gave a speech on the subject of the land boom and its unraveling.

The bank manager attributed the intensification of "the whole wild reckless business" to the "exceptionally easy condition of the money market, due to the large influx of British capital".

Turner added: "Scores of business men, who saw that this result must follow, and loudly predicted it, found themselves entangled in the ramifications that ensued, so widespread had been the operations, so complicated the inter-relation of the numerous companies and their satellites".

In his address, Turner gave an optimistic assessment of the colony's future in view of its "natural vigorous growth in numbers and in wealth", concluding that Victoria "has not suffered any depletion of its own resources, while a permanent and substantial advance in values has undoubtedly been established".

Although what was agreed upon fell well short of an open-ended obligation to support each other, their public statement lacked details and had a vague positivity which the colonial press interpreted as a virtual blanket mutual guarantee and consequently the growing panic was alleviated.

[20][59] When Turner addressed the meeting, he stated: "It has been the wish of my life to see the Commercial Bank restored to its former prosperity", adding: "I can honestly say that we have worked diligently, unremittingly, and with intense singleness of purpose in the interests of the shareholders".

In July 1896 a general meeting of "extended depositors" of the bank was held at the Athenaeum Hall, where those present were asked to approve a "rearrangement scheme".

James Service told the meeting of declining earnings and "the unexpectedly slow process of realising old assets"; to avoid the suspension of the bank once again, he claimed that "the making of better terms with creditors was unavoidable".

In a review of the book in Sydney's Sunday Times, the writer described the title as "somewhat pretentious", there being "scarcely an attempt to epitomise the characteristics of our indigenous literature, to gauge its quality or to estimate its future".

With more than two-thirds of the volume "devoted to appreciative biographies" of Adam Lindsay Gordon, Henry Kendall and Marcus Clarke, the reviewer was critical of the authors' "notable omissions" and failure to "attach sufficient weight to the ever-increasing number of young authors who... are gradually permeating the country with an original literature... dealing with genuine phases of Australian social conditions and the life and character of the people".

For criminals who had been "three times convicted" Turner advocated permanent banishment to an inescapable island where "no restraint should be put upon their actions" and "no doubt anarchy and violence would be rampant".

[68] An editorial in the socialist newspaper The Tocsin was particularly scathing, describing the banker's ideas as "characteristic of the crass Conservatism of which Turner is a shining light", representing "Individualism with the mask off, and show in all its nakedness the tyrannical brutality... and the blatant selfish ignorance that Socialism has to fight".

The writer took the opportunity to remind readers that Turner was "a prominent and questionable player in one of the most execrable financial crashes of modern times" and "one of the leading first robbers guilty of the criminal incapability which caused the Land Boom, and led to its disastrous results".

The reviewer took particular note of the author's account of the Victorian speculative boom of the 1880s, during which Turner, as manager of the Commercial Bank, was a prominent and active participant in the events.

Turner's description of the boom and subsequent bust is described as skating "over very thin ice", in view of "his own part in the bad business".

The review concluded: "The book is crude in thought, illiberal in feeling, malicious towards individuals, fawning towards personal friends... ; coloured in its facts and distorted in its deductions".

[30] In 1914 a portrait in oils of Turner was completed by E. Phillips Fox and presented to the National Gallery of Victoria for its collection in March of that year.

[75] Over many years, both during his working life and in retirement, Turner was a member of multiple institutions, associations and philanthropic organisations in Melbourne, often taking on office-bearer roles.

Turner and other trustees were described as "harmless old gentlemen with no special knowledge of art, a conservative distaste for new ideas, and quaint, old-fashioned notions of what is respectable".

[79] Turner's estate was valued at £29,233 and was the subject of several bequests, including a large collection of his books and manuscripts to the Melbourne Public Library.