This photograph of the Yallourn Reds Under: 10 soccer team was taken in 1971.  It is hard to believe that some of the youngsters, in the above team, will be approaching their 60th birthdays in 2021. The boys in the team are:

Back Row: Stephen Husquin, Mark Husquin, Daniel Wallace-Crabbe , Stephen Lightbody, Maurice Lyons, Shane Plautz, Robert McMicken, Michael Hutchinson

Front Row: David Curtis, Trevor Langmaid, Barry Hill, Ian Nerrie

The Coach of the team was John Brown; and it is thought that the lady, shown in the photograph, was the club’s Junior Secretary, at that time, Mrs Brenda Kinne

During 1971, the Yallourn Reds Under: 10 team played a total of 27 games and won every match. It is also recorded that the team amassed 164 goals while just six were registered against the team in the entire season.  The Yallourn Reds also won the local Under: 10 ‘knock-out’ competition.  

Seven of the above team members were selected to represent the Latrobe Valley Soccer League junior squads in interleague / interstate trials and fixtures. 

Julie would appreciate the opportunity to post any photos of other Yallourn junior sporting teams on this website.  Please feel welcome to forward any such photos and memorabilia to Julie. Thank you.

Apologies for any incorrect spelling of family names of the boys in the above photograph (Roger). 

Kindly scanned and submitted by Robin Fitzgerald. To view, please click on pdf below.

CAN ANY READER  ASSIST - Lt. Arthur Schaschke?

The above extract, regarding Lt. Arthur Schaschke, of Yallourn, was discovered ‘by accident’ in ‘The Canberra Times’ (January 1st 1965) on a page which listed the New Year’s Honour List for 1965. Lt. Schaschke was awarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire) for bravery during a military exercise known as ‘Operation Blowdown’ in 1963.

The AWM records indicate that Arthur served in the Australian Army from 1960-69 (Service record number: 18551)

The following notes regarding Operation Blowdown were published on the Wikia.org Military website…

“Operation Blowdown was a military operation that took place on 18 July 1963. Conducted in northern Queensland, Australia by a joint Australian-American-British team, it was designed to simulate the effects of a nuclear weapon on tropical rainforest, using 50 tons of conventional explosive (TNT). A device containing 50 tons of TNT was detonated to partially simulate a ten kiloton air burst in the Iron Range jungle of the Cape York Peninsula…”

CAN YOU HELP?

The Virtual Yallourn website would like to post a photograph and further information about the life of Arthur Schaschke and his connection with the township of Yallourn. If any reader can assist in this matter please contact Julie. Thank you for your help.

1950 - RETIREMENT OF MATRON ALLAN

A most respected local identity, in the health and welfare of Yallourn residents, Matron Madge Allan, retired in 1950.

Sister Allan arrived in Yallourn (following her appointment by the Yallourn Medical Fund Committee) in 1927; and later became the first Matron of the Yallourn Hospital (when it opened in January 1929).  

Click on the pdf below to see more photographs…

VALE - ALAN RIPPER (1939-2020) - A FINE INNINGS

Readers of this website and former residents of Yallourn will be saddened to hear of the recent passing of well-known Yallourn and Morwell identity Alan Ripper.

Alan passed away at his home at Lake Cathie (near Port Macquarie) on Wednesday, 14th October. He was 81 years of age.

Alan, the only child of Vernon and Alma Ripper, was born in Melbourne in 1939.  In his early years, he lived in Lygon Street, Carlton, just a ‘drop kick’ from Princes Park Oval; and hence his life-long support of the Carlton Football Club.

Vern’s experiences in the RAN during the World War: II make for absorbing reading; and, on his return home from active duty in 1946, he accepted a position as the Boiler House Engineer at the Yallourn Power Station.   Consequently, the Ripper family moved to Yallourn…

“We stayed in Mr and Mrs Wal Lacey’s house initially until a house was made available to us at 13 The Angles…I started school in Year 3 with Miss Williams as my teacher. The Year 4 classes, the following year, were held in the Guide Hut down near the swimming pool. Our teacher was Ms Kiely …Years 5 and 6 were back at the main school (4085)…”  

Like so many children of the Yallourn township, Alan had a happy and fun-filled life which included spirited adventures with his friends, bike riding and picnics along the Narracan River.

To read the full article, please click on the pdf link below:

1939 - YALLOURN WIN THE  CGFL PREMIERSHIP

ACTION FROM THE  1939 GRAND FINAL AT TRAFALGAR

With the AFL Grand Final ‘just around the corner’, it was thought that the attached action photographs, from the 1939 Central Gippsland Grand Final, may be of interest to Virtual Yallourn readers.  

These photographs were a chance discovery (i.e. serendipity); and were unearthed in ‘The Weekly Times’ when researching the career of Yallourn’s well-known coach and local personality, Bert Downs. The photos add a little more to the story of local football and the history of the township.

The Grand Final was played on Saturday 16th September 1939 at Trafalgar.  A large crowd attended and the gate takings were £126 (pounds- $11, 250 in today’s currency). The field umpire was Jim Cummins and the match was broadcast by radio station 3UL.

The victorious 1939 Yallourn team was skippered by Bert Downs who played with Collingwood in 1933. Bert’s brother, Tommy, was a talented rover for Carlton. Tommy ‘hit the headlines’ following a incident with Richmond’s Maurie Hunter in Round: 12 in 1931.

Bert, who was a Fitter and later a Shift Foreman with the SEC, and his family lived across the road from State School 4085 at 30 Parkway.  The photo (below) shows Bert proudly wearing his Yallourn jumper.  

To read more...please click on the pdf link below

YALLOURN - YEAR BY YEAR - 1926

The first sod in the Victorian Government’s  ambitious scheme, to generate electricity at Yallourn, was turned almost a century ago (1921); and for the next six decades, the township of Yallourn ‘took root, bloomed, withered  and  died’….

“Yallourn was swallowed by the coal mine it was built to serve”… ‘The Herald Sun’ May 2016.

In this history series for the Virtual Yallourn website, the monthly activities, shown in each year, are not necessarily momentous occasions in the town’s history but simply attempt to further highlight the personalities of the town and the myriad of events that made the local (and often national) news.

The walk down ‘Memory Lane’ (not to be confused with Meadow Lane which ran off Latrobe Avenue) begins in the year of 1925 when the plans of the SEC were well underway; and the unique ‘garden town’ of Yallourn was taking shape and creating interest far and wide.

TO READ MORE, click on the pdf link below

This terrific photograph of two young girls from Yallourn, Susanne Fewster and Dianne Stevenson, was part of an S.E.C promotional article regarding the town library in 1952.

The establishment of the library at Yallourn is a lengthy episode in the town’s history. References, regarding a basic library at the camp, can be traced back to the 1920’s as shown …

“The Recreation Club under the secretaryship of the Rev. P. H. Dicker has furnished a library with daily and weekly papers, magazines and lending books.” Source: ‘Yallourn News’ (as featured in the ‘Morwell Advertiser’) May 22nd, 1922 Page: 3,

It is documented that, in later years, there was a reading room located in the R.S.S.I.L.A (to become known as the R.S.L) clubroom; and in 1939 the R.D. Dixon Library was opened at the Yallourn Technical School. A little known fact is that the Dixon Library was the consequence of a most magnanimous individual gesture…

“When Mr Dixon resigned in 1938 …The Yallourn Civic Association presented him with a cheque for 56 pounds. He used this to establish a public reference library which was housed at the technical school…”  Source: ‘Yallourn Was’ Page 100.

Following the cessation of hostilities of World War:II and the burgeoning population of the township (approx 4,100 in 1947), the need for a community library (with a separate section devoted to children’s literature ) was evident.

To continue reading this story and see more photos, please click on the pdf link below: