Yallourn Theatre, Victoria by Gerry Kennedy

Kindly permitted to be republished by 
Cinema and Theatre Historical Society Inc - 
www.caths.org.au

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It is recorded this photograph was taken at the 1931 Grand Final of the Central Gippsland Football Association at Trafalgar. The steps of that ‘famous grandstand’ can be seen in the background. The players from left to right are: Peter O'Neill, Jim Milne, Ted Hassett, Alan Hutton, 'Skipper' Scott, Keith Shepherd, P 'Plugger' Culph, H 'Mossie' Crawford, J. Brookes, Percy Palmer, R. Smith, Jack Piggott, Stan Comber, Ernie Davies, Hugh Graham, A. 'Skinny' Pratt, P. 'Tiger' Page, Les White and Harry Caddy.

A PHOTOGRAPH FROM KAYE BRILL

Kaye Brill kindly forwarded the above photograph of the 1931 Yallourn Football Club team. The photograph belonged to Kaye’s grandmother, Irene (Rene) Stanger.

Kaye was seeking information about the playing career of James (aka Jimmy) William Milne, her grandmother’s cousin.

While the above photograph has previously been published on this website, Kaye’s correspondence is important in confirming the names of all players in the team. Furthermore, the photograph clearly establishes that J. Milne (second from the left) was Jimmy Milne, a star of VFL and country football in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

THE 1931 SEASON – YFC CLAIM THE FLAG

In 1931, Yallourn Football Club (Yallourn FC) was affiliated with the Central Gippsland Football Association/League (CGFA) (as named in some sources). The clubs competing in the 1931 CGFA season were: Yallourn, Moe, Warragul, Yarragon, Trafalgar and a combined team named Nar-Nar-Goon-Iona (Iona was/is a small settlement near Bunyip). Nar-Nar-Goon won the 1930 CGFA premiership.

Yallourn FC won its way through to the 1931 Grand Final claiming the premiership over Trafalgar FC with a strong exhibition of team football. The final scores were: Yallourn 11.8 (74) defeated Trafalgar 6.6 (42).

Alan Hutton was the outstanding player in the clash; other prominent Yallourn players included ‘Tiger’ Page, ‘Mossie’ Crawford and ‘Skipper’ Stott.

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IMAGES OF YALLOURN - 1923 - SISTER CATHERINE EVA BENNETT (1888-1968)

Title of photograph:  ‘1923-Sister Catherine and her shack. West Camp’

A brief note written by Gippsland historian, Linda Barraclough regarding this photograph stated: “Sister Catherine Bennett in her ‘part hut, part tent shack’ at Yallourn, 1923. It was built for her by the men soon after her arrival, utilising discarded packing boards.” Original source of this photo: Rev P.H. Dicker Collection, Anglican Diocese of Gippsland.

BRIEF NOTES ON SISTER CATHERINE BENNETT

• Catherine Eva Bennett was born at Mile End, East London in 1888.
• Catherine served as a nurse, with the Red Cross, during the Great War. There is a suggestion that Catherine also served in Serbia in 1919.  
• In 1921, Catherine immigrated to Australia.
• Catherine was appointed, by Bishop George Harvard Cranswick (St Paul’s Cathedral, Sale) to commence duties, as an Anglican Medical Sister, in the Yallourn area in 1923…

“According to Archdeacon Ray Elliott in his The Deaconesses of Gippsland, Sister Bennett was appointed to Yallourn in 1923. Her work before that, presumably in the Diocese of Gippsland, is currently unknown.

He writes that Sister Bennett took up residence in a "part hut, part tent shack", built by the men to serve as a residence and clinic.

The church was unable to support her financially, so she lived on her own means until a fund was established into which the miners paid two shillings a week. “Her job was to look after the medical needs of a community, which because of its crude housing and living conditions had more than its fair share of sickness”.

At Yallourn she was also working with the newly appointed Reverend Percy Hensby Dicker, whose photographs of her in Yallourn provide another dimension to the few details we have for Catherine.” Source: Linda Barraclough. Author and historian.

• Illness throughout the community at Yallourn was common; and often stemmed from the harsh living conditions and poor hygiene in the camps. Unfortunately, funds were paltry; and in an attempt to overcome a shortage of medical resources,  a Church Nurse Fund was established to assist Catherine’s noble work in the settlement.

• In January 1925, Catherine married Rev. Walter Asbury Smith at St John’s Church in Yallourn. According to Yallourn’s eminent historian, Prue McGoldrick, the people of Yallourn and district took up a collection, of one hundred pounds, and presented it to Catherine as a farewell present and a token of their appreciation for her selfless devotion to others.

• In that same year, a meeting was called at the Mess Room at the West Camp to urge the SEC to appoint a resident doctor to the town. This meeting would, in time, lead to the appointment of Dr James Moore Andrew to the position of Resident Medical Officer at Yallourn.

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