Richard Bush YHS 1955
Riding bicycles in the 1950s:

YALLOURN MILK ROUND: The Early Years Kay wrote "Looking into my family history recently, I came across a story of providing milk to Yallourn in its early history - 1920s, 30s and 40s. My grandmother's family - the Bests - ran the Deloraine Dairy from their farm at Yarragon and were responsible for the Yallourn Milk round. My great-aunt Amy could remember getting up at midnight to milk the cows and setting off for Yallourn by 2.00am. The round would be finished by 9.00am and they would be back at Yarragon by noon. There would be hand cans placed at back doors for the milk delivery.

PAPER BOYS TELL THEIR TALES:

John Lewis YHS 1954

Dr James Moore Andrew commenced practice at Yallourn on 1 January 1926, as the town’s first doctor, and remained there until his death in 1972. He was accompanied by his new wife, Catherine Dorothy Andrew, known by all as Dorothy and affectionately by most as simply ‘Dot’, and they had three children – Judith, Margaret and David. They named their home “Burculey”, after his childhood home at Colbinabbin.

A Trip Around Yallourn High
David Drane YHS 1960 wrote: I was a student at Yallourn High from 1960 -1964 and have many good memories of the time that I spent in Forms 1C, 2A, 3A, 4A and 5B. I’ll try and take us on a trip around the Classrooms that we spent so much time in. I’m sure that others among us will have similar memories of time spent in these “halls of learning”.

Andrew Spaull YHS 1955 ...from the exhibition “Yallourn Revisited” 1993 It was his own special view (of Yallourn), he claims: revealed only to me as a pubescent paperboy on my daily delivery to the reservoir warden’s home on the hill. On a crisp autumn morning, I would pause for the sun’s first shafts to pierce through the mist below and unmask Yallourn’s sharp and clear and splendid patchwork quilt of bright rooftops, edged by the green hues of trees, and beyond the chocolate brown of the open cut flecked with sliver dredges.

Alex McAllister YHS 1935 sent some details of his background. “I was born in Scotland & together with my parents and brother Tom immigrated to Australia arriving in Melbourne in November 1926 at the age of three. We settled in Melbourne for a time and in 1931 my father obtained employment at Yallourn during the construction period and the family, which included my two brothers Bob & Jim who were born in Australia, moved to Yallourn.

Tim Harvey, YHS 1971 You might remember Tim’s memories in the last newsletter (Part 1 - Water)....here is Part 2 - Fire: The first group of recollections in this series started with one of the classical elements - water, and it seemed fitting to move to another – fire. Yallourn was overlooked on three sides by symbols of fire and was bounded by a fourth. The first of the three was the chimneys of the power stations, or rather the series of them. The annual reports of the SEC spoke proudly of the smoke pouring from the chimneys. In the fifties, it was a sign of progress.

Terry Heskey YHS 1955 Ex-Yallourn resident, Elsie Heskey, passed away on 20th May 2006 at Atherton, Queensland. I have enjoyed reading the YOGA Newsletters and the article from John Lewis in the June 2007 edition was of particular interest regarding the mid-1950s education system at the YHS. It is the first time I've seen any form of explanation to questions I had pondered since those school days - but it wasn't all bad.