Stories

HISTORY OF YALLOURN - POST OFFICE (provided by Luisa DeAgnoi) 1874 Coal first discovered in Yallourn area, form of lignite. 1886 Small private mine opened up to promote the brown coal. 19.10.1888 The Great Morwell Coal Mining Co registered to mine coal. 10.9.1890 Private railway line built and connected to main railway line at Hernes Oak siding, selling over 200 tons coal per week. 1897 The Mining Co produced the first briquettes, selling at 17 shillings 6 pence per ton, but in 1898 the Co was wound up. 1917 The coal mine reopened with sales at 15 shillings per ton. Sept 1917 The… more

Grace James (Catchpole) YHS 1945, sent this article about Brenda Finlayson (Block) who started YHS in 1946 and came from Hernes Oak.
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“Just want to congratulate the YOGA committee on a great reunion at Woorabinda in March 2011. I had a lovely time and it was great to catch up with people that I hadn’t seen since I left high school. Lots of good memories and heaps of forgotten memories. Funny how when someone starts talking about something he or she remembers and it all comes flooding back. Jan Smith (Daddo) did a great job getting as many along as she did and hopefully the word will spread and more of us will be able to attend the next one at Woorabinda in March 2012. I know I’m looking forward… more

Doug Prestidge YHS 1950 wrote: I attended Yallourn High School from 1950 to 1953. I came across an old photo taken 1952/53 of the Junior Football Team. Football in Gippsland in those times was very strong and played a big part in the local communities. The senior team at YHS consisted mainly of Form 5 & 6 students and many of them played in their respective town’s senior teams. As YHS was the only high school in the area, students travelled from Traralgon, Morwell, Moe, Trafalgar and all surrounding areas. I remember names like the Archbold brothers from Traralgon, one going on to play… more

FATHER: Now listen, son, from now on you must do your own homework. I’m not going to do any more for you - it’s not right! SON: I know, but have a shot at it just the same.
(A funny from Colin Nash YHS 1956)

Christine West (Salisbury) YHS1959

MRS KIMBERLEY'S TEAPOT I have a teapot which I treasure, every time I look at it, it reminds me of the happy times we had growing up in Yallourn and of our lovely neighbours when we lived at 8 Latrobe Ave.

My sisters, Gail and Karan, and myself used to build huts all over the place in our back yard, sometimes in the lemon tree, hedge or on top of the chook house. They wouldn't pass standards today but they were great fun. Sometimes we had help from our neighbours, Sandra & Lynette Slade, or our cousins Frances and Billy Robinson,… more

Alex McAllister YHS 1935--1938

I read with interest Steve Gray’s account of his time in the Yallourn Cubs, Scouts & Venturers (Rovers). My time was very much earlier - Cubs 1933, Scouts 1935 and Rovers 1939. During that period and until I left Yallourn, the Scout Hall was situated on the eastern side of Northway and the railway line. To get there from the general store, you walked or rode a bicycle north past Doctor Andrew’s house, turned right into Centreway with the police station on the left and headed east, crossing Northway then under the railway bridge, turned right and… more

Tru Energy inherited the lookout site when the SEC was privatised. Over the past decade the lookout was allowed to deteriorate and eventually reached a point where Tru Energy had no option but to close it to the public. A couple of years ago, discussions began to take place between Latrobe City Council and Tru Energy regarding the transfer of the land to council as public land. Tru Energy gave the land to council around the middle of 2009 after demolishing the existing lookout structure. Tru Energy also contributed $10,000 towards the construction of a replacement lookout structure with… more

Tim Harvey YHS 1971 continues with Part 5 - Sound, Colour & Light

This is the last of my essays on memories of Yallourn, and it ties together a few odd things that I thought of, hence the odd title. For example, after moving to Newborough, I remember wondering why it was so quiet - where was everyone? You could walk around the streets painted blue and there wouldn’t be anyone to notice. Yallourn, by comparison, seemed to have people everywhere. It was alive with sounds and colour and light. There was the station that hummed in the night, or the summer noise of hundreds of… more

Sue Bussell YHS 1968 sent a photo taken recently of 4 ex-Yallourn friends:

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We met up for lunch at my place in Coburg one Saturday in May and talked and talked as you do when you all meet up after 37 or so years.......

Lots of coincidences over the years....... every now and again I meet someone with a Yallourn history and it is so good to connect through YOGA and the websites.

I moved back to Victoria from SA in late 1989. I rented a small house in Eagle Point and was delighted to find my neighbours were Roger and Jan (Daddo) Smith's… more