Mum and Dad were always keen to explore the area, so we began with the nearest hills, those where Yallourn North was built.

My mother, Elna Lerche, tackling the weeds not long after we first moved in. That's the Fairfield Avenue guesthouse on the left in the background. We ended up having such a beautiful garden, and mum remained a keen gardener all her life. Both my sister and I have inherited the interest, and were allowed to have our own patch of garden from when we were very small.

Anker Lerche worked as a boiler house engineer, first at the old Yallourn Power station (from 1959) and then later at Morwell power station until he retired (1977, I think). This was how the house looked when we first arrived from Melbourne. It was a bit of a shock for mum and dad, so we stayed with friends (Stella and Aage Nielsen, and their daughter Maureen, who had arrived in Yallourn some years earlier) until the house was fixed up a bit. The floorboards were bare, so carpet and lino had to be laid down.

Top Row: ? , Inge Lerche, Sandra Lee, Margaret Kelly, ? , Tove Lerche (guide leader)
2nd Top Row: Joan Ashmead, ? , ? , ? , Mrs Scholes (Brownie leader), Susanne Berg
2nd Row: Anne McLennan, Bernadette McLaughlin, Jane Reader, Michelle Peters or Meryn Lofts, Rosemary Connors
Front Row: Julie Francis, Connie Berg, ? , Dianne Watkinson, Rosalind Miller?

Back Row: Margaret Scholes, ? , ? , Mrs Scholes ('Brown Owl' - pack leader), ? , ? , ?
Middle Row: ? , ? , ? , ? , Sandra Lee, Dianne Wolff, Susanne Berg, Marlene Nyeboer, ?
Front Row: Inge Lerche, Anne Hurley, Sandra Gregory, Pamela Ferguson, Dianne Watkinson, ? , ? , Rosemary Connors, Betty Sims or Elizabeth Rogowski

I remember the mosquitoes bit those of us sleeping outside on the verandah rather badly - came back home looking as if I'd had chicken pox! Otherwise, it was great fun, and I believe Guide House still exists.

Inge Lerche & Susanne Berg

Walter Embry emigrated from Leicester, England in 1913 and worked as a Hairdresser in Melbourne until the outbreak of WW1. He must have enlisted as soon as news of the war was made public, because his enlistment number was 369, although he didn't actually report to the enlistment office until January 1915. This may have been because he was waiting for his younger brother to have a birthday in January, but this is purely speculation, but the two of them, Walter and Bert are shown in the records by January 1915.

Yallourn Marching Girls at Frankston

A group pf new typists having a tour of Hazelwood Power station. Photo taken by Mrs Hunt.

Typists in the Typing office. Photo taken by Mrs Hunt.

Another group of new typists photo taken by Mrs Hunt. Sorry not very clear.
I think Moira Irvine is 4th from the left.