Dear Miss Jones It’s been a long time. Remember we exchanged letters back in January 1961 when you wrote after I had left school? You were pleased that a good number of us had passed our matriculation and you wished me the best for the future. At the time I thought it was a kind gesture and looking back on it now I see that you and the other teachers really cared about your charges and wanted us to do well. I had just started working in Melbourne and, rather too formally, replied to you on the crisp company letterhead with a fresh letterhead for each page.

Murray Wigg – YHS 1951 – “My reason for writing is to balance the suggestion that the quality of the education at YHS was not all it could or should have been.

Helen Fischer (Hender) YHS 1967
More Memories of Yallourn...

Barbara Elliott (Park) YHS 1950: I would like to add to my thoughts and memories on Sonja Bates (Ostlund), a true friend to so many. We had a close association in my early days when originally I lived in Broadway West, just a block from the Ostlund home. A family who lived next door to them (the Watson’s) moved from Yallourn and gave us their little dog, Terry, a black mixed terrier. When we moved to Boola Crescent up on the hill, dear little Terry would move between our new home and Ostlund’s - three days at our place, four at theirs and fed at both respectively.

Alec Bacon YTS 1945-1952 ...
I have had a very fortunate life for a Tanjil South boy who rode a 28” Malvern Star bike 10 miles per day to Moe and back to catch the Yallourn bus when I was only 11…then to catch the Erica bus for two years before being picked up at the door by the Hill End bus.

Yallourn – was it part of my imagination or did it really exist?
by Stefan Tomasz YHS 1957

I am always interested to read the reflections of people who either lived in Yallourn or attended Yallourn High School. I wonder if those of my era can relate to my memories?

Graham Peters YHS 1970 wrote about:
“Dogs in Yallourn” (Photo attached)
At a distance of fifty years, dogs seemed to play a big part in Yallourn life. My earliest memories include frequent dogs. Two small, friendly terriers constantly attended Mrs Ethel Hill, a kindly old lady living at 9 Latrobe Avenue, opposite the High School, as she poked apparently permanent bonfires of autumn leaves with her walking stick.

CHILDHOOD REFLECTIONS – 10 Years in YALLOURN from 1932 to 1942

Linda Apakian (Hamilton) YHS 1961 wrote:
Wagging it in the ‘60’s

This story involves myself and Wendy Parker (now Surman) while at Yallourn High School from 1961–1964.

Every Wednesday afternoon was ‘Sports Day’ which, of course, all students had to attend, and Wendy and I did – occasionally – well, very occasionally!

Lesla Saraghi (Fankhauser) YHS 1952 wrote after attending the last reunion: I am very glad I went. It was so interesting meeting fellow students from over 50 years ago, the years roll off when you are amongst your peer group. Everyone seems to have aged well and their memories are still intact. People recognised me and that was the biggest pleasure.