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Rob Morgan YHS'1959 "OUR 2002 YHS REUNION AND ULYSSES CLUB AGM TRIP" for next newsletter, which included....... Greetings to all fellow YOGArians and very glad that you take the time to stay in touch. We all share a very unique bond that becomes stronger with each event, like the recent '1960's Reunion at Woorabinda. So, a bit of history of myself - I came to Yallourn from Mt Beauty, along with brothers Geoff and Steve, in May'1962. Geoff and l fitted into Form 48 with the names of Log and String respectively, whilst Steve slotted into Form 1A with the name of Monkey, all of us managing to blunder on with no idea of where life was leading us. I finished YHS in 1965, with my main achievements in athletics and Chief of the Moan Squad, but with no idea how to speak to girls; I failed Matriculation achieving only 2 subjects, (not English Expression). Worked for a year and achieved a few good results at night school; returned to full-time study at Yallourn Tech (became GIAE then Monash), and somehow emerged as an Electrical Engineer. Got married to lna in 1970, after finding out what girls are. Worked with the SEC of Vic until 1972, got bored, and then headed west to Hamersley Iron for 13 years, at Tom Price and Dampier. This was followed with contracting work with consultants and agencies for a further 13 years, still in WA. Now feeling a bit left behind in the technical side and running on experience, so out of work and considering myself early retired. We have 3 kids... 2 have returned to Karratha, a Surveyor and a bike shop manager, and no.3 is at Uni, becoming a Maths teacher. We are members of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club, which is for the over 50's trying to grow old disgracefully. lt is good fun without any pressure to conform to anything but having a good time riding with like-minded people. There is an AGM at a different location every year, this year being at Traralgon, and so we departed early on 6th February to combine the YHS ‘1960s Reunion on 16th Feb with the Ulysses AGM on 20th to 24th March. We arrived at the 1960s Reunion held at Woorabinda Camp on 16th February at about 10.30am as things were just starting to warm up. On parking at the gravel car park and failing to recognise Peter Lock (sorry Twaf), I then was greeted by Marg Planner (Tullis) and Pauline Douglas; that put me in such high spirits that I knew this was about to be one helluva day. I was not disappointed; l never expected to see so many familiar faces after about 36 years, too many to mention individually here. Even lna knew some from her nursing training at Yallourn Hospital (LVCH), I know I spoke more words that day to girls I hardly had the courage to say anything to at school. It seems a lot of others had much the same feelings. We then spent a couple of weeks visiting friends and rellies in the Latrobe Valley. The Traralgon Ulysses Group meeting was as informal as it could possibly get, being a Saturday afternoon sit around with coffee at the ice Creamery. The YOGA dinner on 2nd March was another highlight to end our stay in the Valley. Great company, and a very good meal washed down with plenty of red wine, topped up with plenty of red wine, and talking a lot of dribble. The night went so fast I can only vaguely remember any details, although I know it was a good time. Steve was a walking corpse the next day, so it must have been good. Monday, 25th March, and it's time to head home. Once again, a trip that will be remembered for a long time, backed up by 7 rolls of film. The next AGM is Mudgee 2003, which we expect to forgo, however Geelong 2004 is a definite yes. Hope there will be some sort of YHS event about the same time.

Marie Braet (Ellis) YHS '1953 Sent in some information about her family from Yallourn. John Thomas Ellis (Jack) and Mary Ellis (Molly) arrived in Yallourn in 1940. Jack was a painter with the SEC and they had lodgings with Mrs Alexander until a house became available. They were allocated 57 Church Street in the latter part of 1941 where they lived until they moved to 5 Maryvale Rd, where they remained until the demise of the town.

They went on to have six children – Marie 1941, Sheila 1942, Bernadette 1943, Brian (19451974), Kevin 1947 and Patricia 1953, all of whom attended St Theres’s School then under the auspice of Father John Walsh, and later Father Francis O’Regan. Secondary education was at St Kieran’s and Presentation College in Moe for the girls and St Paul’s in Traralgon for the boys.

Molly was very involved in parish activities including one of the organists at the church and was also very active in the events of the town, and the Country Women's Association. ln '1981, Molly won the Legal & General Golden Years Award for the state of Victoria at a presentation held in Sydney. lt was a well deserved award for her, although she felt there were more deserving people than herself. Growing up in Yallourn was unique, having the greatest schools of all persuasions with great sporting facilities unequaled anywhere else, where everyone was relatively secure in the knowledge of procuring a position in the workforce at the completion of their education. Yallourn was a picturesque town in the valley, beautifully maintained at all times. Jack, being a partner, most likely worked inside or outside most houses in the town during his working life. Jack passed away in July 1973 and Molly passed away in December 1997. Molly was almost the last person in the town to be relocated, with 5 Maryvale Rd being only one of the few houses still standing at that time. With the love and guidance of our wonderful parents, and growing up in such a great town with so many friends, this family certainly had a sound and staple grounding for life ahead. The people and the community spirit was what made it such a great place to live. The downturn unfortunately is for the hundreds of children born in Yallourn who no longer have a birthplace to which they can return.

Winton McGoll YHS 1959 Sent the following article: YALLOURN CHILDHOOD MEMORIES What was it like for a young boy growing up in Yallourn? Growing up as a boy in Yallourn was about as ideal as any budding Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer, or should that be 'Smiley', could possibly dream of. I was born at the Yallourn Hospital in November 1946, a baby boomer. With 3 older brothers (Ron, John and Trevor) in a neighbourhood of kids my own age. Those early years were full of summers. Did it ever rain? I am sure my mother could have reminded me of the miserable days when it was too cold and wet to go outside, except of course to go to school during the week or to Sunday School at St Johns each Sunday morning. Digressing, my mother, a member of both St Johns and CWA choir, must have been disgusted when I flunked the audition to the St Johns Choir, ho hum. My neighbourhood was the area Church St, Broadway West and Westbrook Rd. in those primary school days my mates were Robert (lnky) Engwell, Don (Houie) Houston, Billy (Tex) Cox, Norm Backman, Alan and lan Coad and Brian French. What did the parents possibly think when these naïve primary school kids called Brian - 'Franger'. Honestly, we didn't understand. The joy of those primary school years was not only kicking the football and playing cricket on the road, but 'going up the bush'. "Where you going Don?", "up the bush mum", was the typical explanation for every excursion. it may have meant to the 'little bush', which was the bit of scrub before the levy bank between the Coach Road hill or the Reservoir hill, or the 'big bush' that went beyond the road between the two hills. When my mother said 'don't go down the river', she generally meant to stay away from mighty Latrobe. Sometimes we obeyed, but the temptations of the river were too great - what fun it was to swim (nude) in the river. The tell tail sign in summer usually was the blackberry stains on the clothing. The biggest and juiciest blackberries were down the river. Does anybody remember swimming through a layer of coal dust floating on the river surface? The river was great, just great. My mother used to reminisce about the days when there was a proper swimming 'pool' immediately upstream from the bridge – but that was way before my day. The bush was also great, and many fun hours were spent building huts, wrecking other kids huts, smoking cigarettes, discovering black and copperhead snakes under logs - running away screaming 'snake! snake!', gum leaves as toilet paper - had to use something! Lighting fires, cooking spuds in the fire coals, building dams on the creek, wrecking dams on the creek, pulling over saplings. Boys will be boys! The trouble we went to cover up the evidence of smoking. Goodness, chewing gum leaves to take smell of tobacco from our breath. I think that on most occasions it was successful. Boys, silly boys! The envy of all us kids, was the kid with a 'Daisy' air gun. As I recall, none of my neighbourhood mates ever had one, instead we became very adept at firing sizeable stones 'yonnies' with our slings. Any of us could knock a blackbird out of the air from 50 yards, well that's my story and I'm sticking with it!! One of my mates from Primary School was Eugene Rybalko, he lived down at the Married Quarters. He had a Daisy air gun. Through YOGA, in a roundabout way with the help of Cecily Waters, I made contact with Eugene the day after the March '96 Reunion. Eugene joined the Heidelberg Golf Club where my wife Mary and myself are members. After 38 years, it was a real joy to meet up with him again. Eugene could not believe that I remembered the Daisy. Yes, Yallourn really was a great place for kids

Grace James (Catchpole) YHS 1945 Wrote to say she was off to the "Stitches & Craft" Show with neighbour Fay Wood (Johnson). Fay was a year behind Grace at Yallourn Primary and High School. While they are away, their husbands, who are volunteers for TADVIC (Technical Aids for Disabled, Victoria) are going to work on a baby cot so that mum, a paraplegic, will be able to get her wheelchair under the cot to attend to the baby. They are also going to adapt the dropsied to two swing gates to make things easier for her to manage. Thank you to Marie McFaul (Elmar) for her good wishes. Grace remembers Shirley Gillard and Marion Dawson. She was a guest at Marion Dawson's wedding at Dandenong. Do others remember her lovely singing voice? It is 50 years since Grace left Yallourn to start her teacher training and had five years away before coming back to teach at YHS for 3 years. Noelene May's (Heskey) recollections of coal dust reminded Grace of Mrs Findlay Fraser, whose husband was the Presbyterian Minister in the 50’s. Mrs Fraser was "horrified" to see people washing on a Sunday. It wasn't many months before she agreed it was better to wash good table linen and woollies on a Sunday when the briquette factory wasn't operating! After living at Yallourn, inner Melbourne, the Mallee and the Wimmera, it took Grace quite a while to break the habit of wiping the clothes line before hanging out the washing!