Stories

Tim Harvey YHS 1971 the next edition:
Part 3 - Earth
Okay, Part 3 of the continuing series of I-Can’t-Believe-What’s-Still-In-Your-Head-After-AllThese-Years...and we continue thematically through the classical elements. This time, Earth.
Briquettes - Coal was, of course, Yallourn’s raison d’etre , dug from the earth around our little town. Munched into dust, it fed the power stations; and the power stations were generous, for they shared their left-overs with us. They must have been on a bit of a diet at some point because there seemed to be quite a bit left over, and… more

Steve Gray YHS 1971:
High School the early bits…
For me, secondary school was a mixed bag of emotions, some of the guys from primary went to the Tech School, while the rest went to the High School. I guess this happens everywhere, but in filling out the paper work at primary school some were still undecided and many parents made the decision anyway.
Day one saw me introduced to a bunch of students from Yallourn North and new-comers from wherever, for a shy kid like me it was strange to have so much to remember, and then to have new names thrown in on top was hard.
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Robert Vincent YHS 1954 wrote:
"I am still settling back into suburbia after a 9-month teacher volunteer stint in Papua New Guinea. The duration was to have been 2 years, but City Mission Pt Moresby decided to "outsource" to the local Tech School. The truth is that City Mission lacked tools, materials, organisation and infrastructure to teach 10 boys in Woodwork, 10 in Metalwork and 10 in Mechanics all at once. One vice and a few power tools and a few (very few) hand tools amounted to "dreams impossible". Ya get that! I had good opportunity to reflect on how good the YTS and YHS… more

May Hill (Morton) YHS 1929 by Graeme Kitney: May passed away at her daughter’s home, in Canberra, on 27 February 2008. She will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing her.
May was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne UK on 25 May 1917 and at four years old, migrated to Australia with her parents, Alec and Minnie and brother, Bob. They settled originally in Ipswich before moving to Yallourn.
May left YHS at 15 and transferred to the Tech to study bookkeeping and on the completion of her course, was employed as a bookkeeper at the Yallourn General Store.
In the… more

David Andrew YHS 1949

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This is Dr Andrew’s son and we were privileged to have both he and his sister, Judith, at our reunion in March. He wrote: I am writing to commend you on the superb planning and organisation that you, your committee and many volunteers put in to making the YOGA reunions happen. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of seeing so much of the memorabilia that has been accumulated even though at times, I found it emotionally draining revisiting many of those 'places' of my childhood. Often in those twilight moments before drifting… more

Anne Anderson (Alford) YHS 1952

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Do you remember the old swimming hole we had before the new Olympic Pool came into being? It was a large ”lake” with reeds along one side, small kids area in the front partitioned off from the main swimming area with a wooden paling fence. The fence had palings missing and it was great fun to play hidey getting through from side to side into the big pool. The other side was a large swimming area with two jetties 50ft apart. The High School swimming sports were held there as well as the life saving activates held there by… more

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‘Val Pyers has died’, said my wife, ‘wasn’t he your music teacher at Yallourn High?’ She was reading the obituaries in The Melbourne Age, (something people over 50 do) calling him my music teacher, is like calling the MSO a band. Sure 44 years ago, he was my music teacher, and yet his influence and passion stayed with me. Like many of us, I was stunned, we had seen him at the YHS reunion in March 2006, and he looked great. He and Jim Dooley dropped in to say Gday and became guests of honour. Even after we left Yallourn High, we still remember him. Some… more

Tom & Maureen Pritchett
50th Golden Wedding Anniversary
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Tom (YHS 1947) wrote this poem for Maureen when he was 20 and had it reprinted in the local paper as a surprise for their 50th wedding anniversary on 29th December 2006:

The Lover’s Poem Come live with me and be my love I’d care for you like I would a dove No matter what the weather, black or fine I’d care for you all the time. No matter whether you’re rich or poor I’d care for you all the more If the world about is hard and cold I’ll care for you until we are old If I should die before… more

Tim Harvey YHS 1971 - Yallourn Memories - Water

I was born at the end of the 1950’s and lived in Yallourn until our family moved to Newborough at the end of 1975. For people who lived all their lives in Yallourn, this is such a brief and late period, it’s hardly worth worrying about. And looking back now, I think they would have a point. Being young, there were many things about Yallourn I realise I never knew anything about. My lack of curiosity amazes and appals me now….and though I had a number of good friends, they and their families often moved on and became a series of… more

Steve Gray YHS 1971 on a similar theme: - The Pool

It’s summer, red-hot or not you went to the pool. Yes, the committee who did the fundraising etc did an almighty job, so there was no wasting the opportunity. Some weekends the pool was jam packed with people, even though other towns jumped on the pool bandwagon, people came from all over to enjoy what Yallourn’s pool had to offer.

I’m not sure if it was the parking (for bikes or cars), the enticing parkland out the front, the neatly groomed lawns, the wide arching Cyprus trees at the top of the ‘hill”, the Mac’s Kiosk,… more