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Alan & Keith Boyle in front of 21 Narracan Ave

Rob Morgan YHS'1959 "OUR 2002 YHS REUNION AND ULYSSES CLUB AGM TRIP" for next newsletter, which included....... Greetings to all fellow YOGArians and very glad that you take the time to stay in touch. We all share a very unique bond that becomes stronger with each event, like the recent '1960's Reunion at Woorabinda. So, a bit of history of myself - I came to Yallourn from Mt Beauty, along with brothers Geoff and Steve, in May'1962.

Merle Walpole (Wood) died last year, aged 85 years. The late Mrs Walpole was born at Geelong but completed her secondary education at Yallourn High School when her family (Florence and Amos Wood) moved to Yallourn in 1927. During her teenage years she led a full life being a member of various youth groups, the Girl Guides and later Rangers, as well as continuing her studies in classical ballet. She was also a member of the Yallourn dramatic society and took part in numerous productions in Yallourn.

Marie Braet (Ellis) YHS '1953 Sent in some information about her family from Yallourn. John Thomas Ellis (Jack) and Mary Ellis (Molly) arrived in Yallourn in 1940. Jack was a painter with the SEC and they had lodgings with Mrs Alexander until a house became available. They were allocated 57 Church Street in the latter part of 1941 where they lived until they moved to 5 Maryvale Rd, where they remained until the demise of the town.

lrene Hunnam (Park) YHS 1952 Shares her memories of Yallourn Hospital with us. lrene's husband, Alan, has recently become ill and we send them both our very best wishes. Remembering the Old Yallourn Hospital: I was one of the very early nursing trainees at the Latrobe Valley Community Hospital in Yallourn, commencing there in 1957. On arrival, I was given a furnished room in the student nurses' home and issued with a grey uniform, resplendent with stiff starched collar, cuffs, cap and white apron.

Winton McGoll YHS 1959 Sent the following article: YALLOURN CHILDHOOD MEMORIES What was it like for a young boy growing up in Yallourn? Growing up as a boy in Yallourn was about as ideal as any budding Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer, or should that be 'Smiley', could possibly dream of. I was born at the Yallourn Hospital in November 1946, a baby boomer. With 3 older brothers (Ron, John and Trevor) in a neighbourhood of kids my own age. Those early years were full of summers. Did it ever rain?

Harold Park died peacefully aged 90 years on 16th January 2001. Harold has been a dear friend to me and my family since 1967 when his son, Stuart, and I became friends at school. Their home then became my 'second home' and I chose to spend more time there than my own (2 bossy sisters at home probably had something to do with that, plus I was spoilt rotten by 'Mrs & Mrs Pee'). We spent many hours’ playing cards & scrabble, listening to Beatles records, drinking many cups of tea, eating marmalade & toast for breakfast and all puffed away on cigarettes (probably another reason).

Grace James (Catchpole) YHS 1945 Wrote to say she was off to the "Stitches & Craft" Show with neighbour Fay Wood (Johnson). Fay was a year behind Grace at Yallourn Primary and High School. While they are away, their husbands, who are volunteers for TADVIC (Technical Aids for Disabled, Victoria) are going to work on a baby cot so that mum, a paraplegic, will be able to get her wheelchair under the cot to attend to the baby. They are also going to adapt the dropsied to two swing gates to make things easier for her to manage. Thank you to Marie McFaul (Elmar) for her good wishes.

The Fletchers - Yallourn 1928 - 1978 Keith Fletcher (YHS 1940) was born at Yallourn Hospital to parents George & Cecilia. They arrived from England in 1924 and George started with the SEC as an Electrical Trades Assistant in the Electrical Workshops (and progressed in a very short time to foreman and upon his death in 1959 he was Electrical Workshops' Superintendent). The family soon moved to 5 Reservoir Rd; rental was 5 shillings per room per week. Joyce Fletcher was born in 1931. Over the years, the Fletchers also lived in Tarwin Grove and Stzelecki Rd.

Marion Kossatz (O'Hara) YHS 1947 Wrote thanking the committee for their work and attached the following: VISE (Volunteers for isolated Student Education) - During 1999, I spent five months as a volunteer teacher in the Northern Territory, and recommend the activity as an alternative to a dull retirement at home. Oenpellie in Arnhem Land is an aboriginal settlement of about one thousand persons, about two hundred of whom are white, or "ballanders", (Ballanders, bollanders, hollanders. the first white people exploring along the northern coast there, were Dutch sailors, Hollanders, so ...

Arthur Webb YHS 1944 sent in a poem written by Mrs Aileen Lazarus and presented by her at a party in 1997 to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of her marriage to Bert Lazarus. Arthur says the poem reminds us of times now gone when life was not as easy as it is so often today. Bert & Aileen were long time residents of Yallourn, lived in Stzelecki Road and shifted from Yallourn to the Mirboo area when Bert retired from the SEC in 1975.

Dr John Lewis, who is now senior lecturer at the Hong Kong institute of Education. John started at YHS in 1954 and his younger brother, Bruce, commenced YHS in 1955. John wrote the following: "My memory goes back to the war years when I was just two or three years old and recall towns people lining up for ration stamps at the Primary School. I remember lining up with my mum (Alice Lewis) in 1947 in order to enrol in the 'bubs'. My first teacher was Miss McKenzie. Miss Williams was our teacher in Grades 5 & 6. She was fairly strict and had us doing lots of parsing of sentences.

Stefan Tomasz YHS 1957 wrote: For all those who can remember….and what I remember: I was interested to read Richard (Dickie) Bush’s eulogy for Miss Jones in the Yoga Newsletter - June 2013. As YOGA is about nostalgia, I thought not only of her, but of others who had an impact on our lives those many years ago in the late 1950s and early 1960s. While time tends to mellow and/or distort the memory, the following I remember with general affection. By the way, if what I write does not match what is in the memory of others, then I apologise, in advance, to the living and dead.

Peter Blythe YHS 1954 wrote: I remember – Newborough East and Yallourn. Reg Penkethman’s article in the January 2013 newsletter, with many experiences similar to my own, suggested it was about time I added to the vast array of correspondence contributed to YOGA.

In the Clermont Community & Business Group April 2013 Newsletter, the member profile was written about Olga Dunn (Tabaczynski) YHS 1958 and here is an excerpt: Olga was born in Germany of Ukrainian parents and came by boat to Australia in 1949 as displaced people after the war. Her father built their home in Yallourn North Victoria, which was like ‘little Europe’ with all the immigrants. Olga has two sisters and a brother and she is a member of the Yallourn Old Girls’ Association (YOGA). Olga started YHS in 1958.

Memories of a Junior Postie in Yallourn in mid-1960s…Neil Crawley (great grandson of Yallourn’s Dad/Pop Brewer) I finished Grade 4 at Yallourn Primary (although the first year was held at the High School in a room near Strzelecki Road) and then shifted to Morwell, but came back a few years later and worked at Yallourn Post Office in my first ever job, soon after decimal currency came in.

Judith Jerome (Andrew ) YHS 1938 - was born in 1926, the oldest daughter of Dr James Moore Andrew and nurse Catherine Dorothy Mawson. She was raised in the town of Yallourn with her sister Margaret Noel and brother David Bradbury. Judith attended Yallourn Primary School and then Yallourn High School until she went to school in Melbourne as a boarder for forms four and five. After her schooling, Judith entered her nurse training at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She completed her general nursing in 1948 and continued her studies to become a midwife and infant welfare sister.

Helen Fischer (Hender) YHS 1967 (equiv): Jenny Foster and I first met at Kindergarten in 1960. We both have vivid memories of being put on the "Kinder Bus" by ourselves and waving nervously back to our mothers through the bus window!!! Jenny still remembers clinging to her mother’s leg, not wanting to get on the bus. I witnessed nearly everyone going through this as I got on at Railway Avenue and the bus travelled all around Yallourn picking up the kids. I loved the bus trip after a while. We were friends at Yallourn State School up until the end of grade 5 (1965).

PATRIOTISM, SQUARE PEGS AND ROUND HOLES - Yallourn High School in the 1950s and 1960s by Stefan Tomasz YHS 1957 (Photo attached)

Sonja Bates (Ostlund), YHS 1943, an original member, life member and committee member of Yallourn Old Girls’ Association. Sonja grew up in Yallourn, attending Yallourn Primary and then High School, and later became a librarian working at Yallourn Library. She was a very active sports woman, playing netball, was an umpire, tennis, table tennis, golf, then moved to Morwell where their family grew up. Sonja & George enjoyed social activities, also travelling which took them to many parts of the world.