THE CHRISTMAS DAY APPEAL
The following news article was published in the ‘Morwell Advertiser’ some 66 years ago; and centres upon the Annual Christmas Appeal conducted by local radio Station 3TR. The money raised from the Appeal was distributed to the Yallourn Hospital, other local hospitals and the district’s ambulance services. In that era, 3TR’s Christmas Appeal was an important source of income for the hospitals of Gippsland; and it was effective in involving local communities in supporting the work of the doctors, nurses and ancillary staff in the local hospitals.
From reading the newspaper reports of that period, it appears as though the Victorian Broadcasting Network was most successful in raising funds for many Victorian rural hospitals.
The footnotes, which accompany this story, endeavour to give some background information about 3TR and the generosity of the people of Yallourn in assisting ‘worthy causes.’

DECEMBER 11th 1951 MORWELL ADVERTISER PAGE: 10

SUPPORT YOUR HOSPITAL ON XMAS EVE

INSTITUTIONS participating in the 3TR Christmas Day Appeal for Gippsland Hospitals include the Shire of Morwell Hospital, Latrobe Valley and District Ambulance Service, Yallourn Hospital (Latrobe Valley Community Hospital Yallourn), Moe Hospital (formerly Moe Bush Nursing Hospital),Latrobe Valley Community Hospital (proposed Moe Hospital) and Traralgon Hospital Trust.
All that will be necessary will be to ring up on Christmas Day and say "Hospital Appeal". The Latrobe Valley Hospital and Health Services Association number should be contacted for the Morwell Hospital and the Latrobe Valley Ambulance Service and those of Yallourn and Moe hospitals for those institutions.
This press appeal is directed to all those who have had cause to be thankful for the work of the hospitals or Ambulance Service of this Gippsland region of Victoria. If you have known acute anxiety concerning a loved one, brought back to health in one of our hospitals, express your thanks by, a donation to that hospital or ambulance service.
The financial difficulties of hospitals are well known to every citizen, and, of course, varying opinions are held as to whose is the responsibility for finding the necessary money for hospitals to carry on.
In the meantime before the problem is solved, it is the hospitals themselves who carry the strain and worry and, who, at the same time continue their service to the sick and injured of our community.

FOOTNOTES
1. The origins of 3TR can be traced back to 1929 when Frank Berkery founded a small radio station in the Mechanics Hall at Trafalgar. It was originally known as 3FB (i.e. the initials of Frank Berkey)

2. The station began operation under the call sign 3TR sometime in 1931…
“…TRAFALGAR STATION.TRAFALGAR, Wednesday-Official advice has been received that the Government has created Trafalgar and District Radio Club 3FB, a B class professional station. The station will relay wireless programmes from the metropolis to the rest of Gippsland.” Source: ‘The Age’ April 10th 1930. Page: 13

3. The station relocated to Sale in 1932 when it was acquired by the ‘Herald and Weekly Times.’
Note: The station also operated from Traralgon in later years; which may explain a common misconception that ‘TR’ referred to Traralgon.

4. In an article for this website in May 2015, Neil Crawley stated that his Great Grandfather, W.H. ‘Dad’ Brewer, a dynamo in the history of Yallourn sporting clubs, was a Director of 3TR in those early days of local radio.

5. In 1939, 3TR’s new (modern) broadcasting studios were opened in Sale; and it was an important chapter in the history of Gippsland broadcasting…
“…3TR's NEW STUDIOS… Opened by Prime Minister DISTINGUISHED RADIO GATHERING On Saturday night there was a gathering of more than a hundred people at the new 3TR studios, which were officially opened by the Prime Minister (Mr. R. G. Menzies). Although unable to be present in person, the Prime Minister's remarks were recorded in the Melbourne studio of 3TR. The disc was played on the new studio equipment in Sale and this portion of the programme, together with the speeches…” Source: ‘Gippsland Times’ May 1st 1939

6. In the period 1934-39, 3TR was owned by Archibald Gilchrist who was best known as a Western Australian politician and enterprising, perhaps entrepreneurial, businessman. His colourful and eventful life included military service in World War :1, several years as a pastor, librarian and, for a time, Archibald was the sub-editor of the ‘Sunraysia Daily’ newspaper . It is also known, that in the period 1934-39, Mr Gilchrist lived in the USA.

7. The other Gippsland radio stations that Yallourn residents may have listened to in that era were : (i) 3UL (Warragul) which went to air in 1937 and (ii) 3GI (Gippsland – Sale).
Note: 3GI was part of the Australian Broadcasting Commission network and began broadcasting in 1935. 3GI was Victoria’s first ABC regional radio station.

8. 3TR’s Radio Program Guide, of July 1949, indicated that the station provided such entertainment as : news, women’s programs, a children’s radio club, weekly sporting round-up, dramatized serials, plays ( radio theatre), quiz shows, religious programs, various genres of music, social diary/events etc. However, the radio guide did not include any programs specifically listed about the township of Yallourn and other ‘Valley towns.

9. During the football season, 3TR provided an excellent coverage of local football; and during the 1954, the first season of the LVFL, it was announced that 3TR would broadcast three games in which Yallourn Football Club was involved (May 22nd v Warragul, May 29th v Morwell and June 5th against Sale). Football broadcasts generated considerable interest throughout Gippsland in those days.

10. One of the problems, that the residents of Yallourn experienced in relation to listening to the radio, was the poor reception of metropolitan stations. Interference (static) was common; and to receive Melbourne radio broadcasts, an aerial was usually required. Consequently 3TR , 3UL and 3GI became the primary source(s) of news and entertainment for the people of Yallourn in those days prior to the advent of TV (1956).

11. A fact that young readers, of this website, may not appreciate was that in those early days of radio, listeners were required to possess a licence (i.e. a subscription fee to own a radio). Licence fees were abolished for radio (and television) in 1974.
Note: In the 1970’s, a combined TV and radio licence cost Australians $26.50 per year.

12. In 1953, money for various hospitals/health services in the ‘ Valley , including the Yallourn Hospital, was collected via a Latrobe Valley Queen Carnival Competition. The special effort raised in excess of £15,300 ( pounds). Yallourn’s participants in that quest were Eva Thompson, Lauris Stanger, Pamela Williams and Helen Watts who collected a combined total of £3517 (pounds).

13. In 1953, more than £ 70,000 was collected by 3TR, 3HA (Hamilton) and 3SH (Swan Hill) as part of the Victorian Broadcasting Network’s Christmas Day Appeal…
“…More than £70,700 was raised tor country hospitals yesterday by three radio stations of the Victorian Broadcasting Network in their combined Christmas day appeal. More than they raised last year. The appeal was opened this £5400 by the Governor. (Sir Dallas Brooks) on a special recording sent to each station. Last year the appeal raised £65,284 for country hospitals. 3HA Hamilton, 3SH Swan Hill and 3TR Sale, conducted their appeals throughout yesterday, and augmented staffs were kept busy answering telephone calls from donors. Money was not the only commodity donated. The appeal organisers have also been promised bags of wheat, sheep and other farm produce. Source: ‘The Age’ December 26 1953 Page: 6

14. As mentioned in the above footnote, some donors to the appeal offered wheat and livestock. Other means of raising extra funds for patients, staff and new medical equipment during the life of the Yallourn Hospital can be exemplified in 1947 when:-
• The pupils of Yallourn North State School collected 70 dozen eggs for the hospital.
• The Hernes Oak Presbyterian Church donated oranges, lemons and flowers.
• The Newborough Sunday School collected cakes, fruit and flowers.
• Other donations to the Yallourn Hospital that year included pumpkins for the kitchen and books for patients to read.
Other Yallourn Hospital fund raising activities, over the years, included Annual Balls, concerts, direct giving, street stalls, dances and raffles.

15. While 3TR’s Christmas Appeal was a foremost source of additional finance for local hospitals, the residents of Yallourn also provided ongoing and generous support for the Yallourn Hospital including its very own auxiliary organization. From the first year of its operation in 1929 (originally 24 beds), the hospital had always been a priority in the altruistic endeavours of the residents.

16. In 1958, a group of dedicated women formed the Yallourn Ladies’ Hospital Auxiliary, which, in the next seventeen years, raised more than $10,000 (dollars) to maintain and improve the facilities and equipment at the hospital.

17. It is recorded by Prue McGoldrick, in her book ‘Yallourn Was’, that Mesdames Bell, Collins, Coulthard, English, Ingram, Slatter, Stewart, Matron Miller and Nursing Sister Stallard were the driving force(s) behind the fruitful efforts of the YLHA in that era of the history of the town.

THANK YOU
To the long list of people who provided photographs and information about various aspects of the history of Yallourn, your generous assistance during the past year was greatly valued. Thank you also to those people who forwarded positive comments regarding the ‘From the Newspapers’ history project throughout 2018.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

This story is part of a history project entitled ‘From the Newspapers’ and a full list of titles in this series can be obtained by contacting Julie George. The story was researched and written by Roger Spaull; and presented and posted by Julie George for the Virtual Yallourn website in December 2018.
The above extract from the ‘Morwell Advertiser’ has been faithfully reproduced. The only amendments to the original copy are the font style, font size and spacing, so to enhance the story for the purposes of posting on the Virtual Yallourn website.

THANK YOU TO THE FORSYTH FAMILY OF THORPDALE

Virtual Yallourn has recently received two well-worn and fragile original copies of a long-forgotten newspaper called ‘The Trafalgar, Yarragon and Yallourn News.’ The papers (published in January 23rd-1936 and March 13th-1936) were forwarded by Muffy Forsyth, a former a resident of Thorpdale and student of Mirboo North High School, in the hope that they may prove of value in researching the history of Yallourn and district.

While time has ‘taken a severe toll’ on the quality of the print, the papers carry a number of enlightening articles regarding the township of Yallourn during that era, including:
• Yallourn Cricket Club.
• Yallourn Returned Soldiers’ League.
• Yallourn School examination results.
• Yallourn Rifle Club.
• Yallourn Golf Club ( the extract is related to the new club house).
• Tennis at the Brown Coal Mine (i.e. Yallourn North).
• Sunday Church Services at Yallourn.
• Various matters related to the Yallourn Football Club.
• Yallourn Swimming Club.
• Notes on the Yallourn Junior Branch of the League of Nations Union.
• Teachers’ Union meeting at Yallourn.
• Various other small articles regarding the people and organizations of the township.

The histories of other local newspapers ‘The Morwell Advertiser’ (established 1888), ‘The Live Wire’ (1925), ‘The Electric Spark’ (1926) and the ‘SEC Magazine’ (1936) are well documented; but there appears to be less known about ‘The Trafalgar, Yarragon and Yallourn News.’ The newspaper was established in 1902; and was printed and published by W.G.T. Rolls at the paper’s office in Contingent Street, Trafalgar. The paper went on sale throughout Central Gippsland for the price of threepence.

The axiom of the paper was ‘First with the Latest’; and the two copies forwarded by the Forsyth family ran to eight pages of broadsheet with limited artwork and illustrations ( including several photographs).

Note: The newspaper is not to be confused with ‘The Trafalgar and Yarragon Times’ which was established in 1914.

THANK YOU
A special ‘thank you’ to the Forsyth family for taking the time and trouble to send the newspapers to the Virtual Yallourn website. The two editions of ‘The Trafalgar, Yarragon and Yallourn News’ will be beneficial in unearthing further information about the ‘life of the town’ in the 1930’s. In reading the newspapers, from more that eighty years ago, it is apparent that Yallourn was a vibrant and progressive community.

Note: The name Forsyth of Thorpdale will ‘ring a bell’ with many readers of the Virtual Yallourn website as Tim Forsyth, the eminent Australian high-jumper, was a member of the Yallourn Amateur Athletic Club for several years…
“Yallourn schoolboy outshines Games medallists…
MELBOURNE: A 16-year-old schoolboy overshadowed yesterday the winning performances of Commonwealth Games medallists Jane Flemming and David Culbert in the Victorian track and field championships with an historic win in the high jump. Skinny Yallourn youngster Tim Forsyth overcame a rainstorm delay to win the title with a 2.15m leap at Olympic Park. Forsyth is believed to be the youngest man to win the Victorian high jump title.”
Source: ‘Canberra Times’ Monday 12th March 1990, Page 24.

Tim’s father, Jim, was a prominent player in Central Gippsland football and also played for Essendon (VFL) and West Torrens (WAFL) in the period 1963-70.

This note of appreciation to the Forsyth family was written and prepared for the Virtual Yallourn website by Roger Spaull and Julie George in November 2018.

90 YEARS AGO - 1928
YALLOURN WINS THE YDCA GRAND-FINAL

This newspaper item consisted of nothing more than the scores from the 1927-28 Yallourn and District Cricket Association Grand Final between Yallourn and Mirboo North which was played at Moe on the 22nd April 1928.

Despite Yallourn’s exciting 13-run victory, the scores were tucked away beneath a report related to the sales at the Melbourne Pig Market.

Unfortunately, there were no other details of the match provided; and, hopefully, the associated footnotes may shed some light on the fledgling Yallourn and District Cricket Association and some of the notable players of that era.
Note: The batting and bowling gridlines, as seen below, were not part of the original extract and have been added to assist the presentation of the scores on the website.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE AND THEN CLICK THE LINK BELOW THE PICTURE (PDF FORMAT)

FRONT PAGE NEWS
In 1950, the towns of Yallourn and Yallourn North hit the front page of ‘The Age’ (and other national newspapers) when a massive landslide occurred at the open cut. The landslide not only threatened human life but also had the potential to cause catastrophic damage to homes, livestock, personal property and infrastructure.

Three bakery horses were lost, local families were forced to evacuate from the disaster area and the huts of mine workers were also imperilled.

During the calamity, a young girl, Nellie Rowan, was forced to make a dash to safety. Other people mentioned in the press report are: Mr Mills (store owner), Jack Kelso and Arthur Pearson. Arthur was extremely fortunate not be taken in the landfall as the ground slid from under him.

As is so often the case, front page stories are rarely ‘good news’; and this disaster caused great concern and dislocation for the residents at the Yallourn North settlement.

The photographs posted with this article were published in the ‘Newcastle Sun’, ‘Daily News’ (Perth) and the ‘Melbourne Herald.’ The story was ‘big news’ throughout Australia and featured prominently in at least a dozen national newspapers.

JUNE 30 1950 THE AGE PAGE 1

Huge Land Slide Causes
Stir at Yallourn
From Our Special Reporter

Tens of thousands of tons of brown coal and clay slid 350 feet into the north open cut at Yallourn yesterday morning.
The area affected forms a small part of the older sections of Yallourn North settlement and is well away from the area now being developed by the Electricity Commission as a permanent township. Operation of the Yallourn North open cut has not been seriously interrupted.
Eleven families with about 30 children were hurriedly evacuated from shops and dwellings above, the fall. Late last night S.E.C. engineers watched anxiously as new fissures in the cliff face widened ominously.

The first fall occurred at 8.40 a.m. Another took place at 8.30 p.m., when a huge block of earth shifted half an inch forward. This ground is expected to fall this morning.
Fifteen-year-old Nellie Rowan was placing a tray of cakes in the window of Meadow’s Bakery when the main fall occurred. She dropped them and dashed from the building. Other residents fled their homes as the earth crashed into the mine.
Immediate emergency measures were taken to evacuate migrant workers from several huts in the nearby North Yallourn hostel.
The main crack appeared 70 feet from the edge of the cut and the fall took fencing material also section of Post Office-place, a road along the top of the cliff.
Fifty S.E.C. men worked continuously all day shifting furniture and personal belongings from doomed houses near the cliff. P.M.G. technicians worked late last night a storing broken telephone lines. Two bowsers were removed from the front of Mr. T. C. Mills’ store. Others had to be left when the ground again showed signs of giving way.

Leap to Safety
The second fall at 8.30 p.m. took several men on watch by surprise. Arthur Pearson, S.E.C. foreman, was standing on the edge when the earth moved, but he managed to leap back to safety.
Another foreman, Jack Kelso, released three bakery cart horses from their stall near the edge. They bolted, and have not been sighted since.

Thousands of tons of clay and coal blocked a railway shunting line at the bottom of the mine, but it is not expected that coal for railway and industrial purposes will suffer. S.E.C. men watched anxiously throughout the night as cracks widened in the earth and nearby buildings.
Some of the families who were evacuated were housed by friends. Others were placed in incomplete prefabricated bungalows a quarter of a mile away. An emergency post office and bank was set up in the Y.M.C.A. hut in the camp.

FOOTNOTES
1. This story echoed throughout Australia. Newspapers in Cairns, Launceston, Warwick (NSW), Broken Hill, Sydney, Ipswich, Echuca, Maryborough (Queensland) and Adelaide were just some of those that reported on the event.
2. Landslides are not rare occurrences in mining operations; and the history of winning coal at the Yallourn mine is dotted with such incidents. In August 1925, ‘The Argus’ reported…
“A landslide of considerable extent occurred on Friday at the Electricity Commission's new open-cut at Yallourn. The Bucyrus steam shovel used in coal-winning operations escaped damage, but a large quantity of overburden was precipitated into the open-cut.” August 17th 1925.
3. In 1927, Yallourn made the news again when a worker at the Yallourn mine died in a landslide…
“LANDSLIDE AT YALLOURN.-With a roar that startled every miner in the coal pit, about 1,000 tons of earth crashed into the pit at the brown coal mine at Yallourn on July 6. Eight men were working in the vicinity, and one was killed, .while the others had remarkable escapes.” Source: ‘The Australasian’ July 9th 1927
4. It is known that the name of the worker who sadly died in the 1927 landslide was Mr. W. Grace.
5. In December 1934, a water conduit tunnel collapsed at the Yallourn power station with severe implications for power generation.
6. A brief news report regarding landslide at the State Coal Mine, at Morwell in 1919, was uncovered during this research…
“Another landslide at Morwell coal mine. Melbourne. Friday. Late last night an earth-slide, being the second within a fortnight, occurred at the state coalmine at Morwell. The storeroom and mill room were wrecked, and traffic on the railway line for trucks was blocked. One man was slightly injured.” Source: ‘The Sun’ (Sydney) September 19th 1919.
7. Unfortunately, despite all the OH&S regulations that now exist in Australian workplaces, the dangers of mining are ever-present. In 2015, it was reported by the ABC, that four miners had died in various accidents in mines in Queensland. Coalmines are subject to fire, flood, landslips and mechanical mishaps and, as former residents of Yallourn know too well, there was nothing worse than an accident at the mine, in the power station or at briquette factory.
8. Some of the other stories, which relate to mine accidents and landslides, can be found on this website at:-
• http://www.virtualyallourn.com/node/29666
• http://www.virtualyallourn.com/node/28384
This story is part of a history project entitled ‘From the Newspapers’ and a full list of titles in this series can be obtained by contacting Julie George. The research and writing of this article were completed by Roger Spaull and presented and posted by Julie George for the Virtual Yallourn website in October 2018.
The above extract from the ‘The Age’ has been faithfully reproduced. The only amendments to the original copy are the font style, font size and spacing, to enhance the story for the purposes of posting on the Virtual Yallourn website.