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Jim Sullivan YHS 1955 - Does anyone remember the old swimming pool? OMG YUK!...It would be drained every year into the OPEN CUT....And all the bike parts....bike tyres...and BIKES...along with old wheelbarrows..and certain unmentionables (ha ha) would be exposed.....But we loved it!!!! It had 2 jetties...a diving board....along with the mud and reeds....It was great fun at the school sports to wait expectantly as the swimmers competing in the UNDERWATER SWIM SURFACED!!! Many of them finished in the reeds!!!!....Many surfacing with bewildered looks!!!!

Irene Coates (Prosinskas) YHS 1952 wrote: "John Lewis wrote about the cooking room being out of bounds for the boys" -- it was a great place, Monday mornings was cooking lunch and Monday afternoons was for baking; Miss Cronin was a very serious teacher and stood no nonsense; we had to wear our white aprons or there would be trouble. She used to get so impatient if you asked a cooking instruction "again", I think she sent me to make the teachers morning tea just to get me out of her hair! It was great having the lunch we cooked, sitting down with jugs of water on the table.

Charles Adams - YTS 1944 wrote: To the team that put the newsletter together, my most sincere thanks and congratulations on a very stimulating edition. Your work is much appreciated (I get out a newsletter myself for the RRVV, so I’m qualified to comment). It gets better and better but there is a dearth of content from the productive end of town, the fellas that got the real work done, those from the Tech. This is from one of them.

Bill Skinner - YTS 1939 wrote: the newsletter article re the Soccer Club, brought back somewhat faded memories of my Yallourn Soccer Club time, during 1941 & 1942. Our coach at that time was a local policeman --- who said at the end of training, "if I catch any of you riding your bike after dark without a light, you will be fined."

Tim Harvey YHS 1971 We have reached the last of the classical elements and the second-to-last of these essays. And this time the theme is Air.

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.

BACK TO THE FUTURE - YALLOURN WOMEN’S CRICKET TEAM - 1938 - 81 YEARS AGO

Caption under first photo: GIRL CRICKETERS at St. Kilda today: Miss D. Williams (Ballarat) in action against Yallourn. The wicket-keeper is Miss L. Nicholl. Source: ‘The Herald’ Tuesday 19 April 1938. Page 24. Note: Miss Nicholl (perhaps incorrect spelling in the above photograph- see below) was the captain of the Yallourn team in 1938.

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.

Steve Gray YHS 1971 On yer bike! As a kid in Yallourn, I distinctly remember standing at the front gate of our house as a very young lad and at a set time each day, a few older guys would ride by on their bikes on their way to work, handle bars turned upwards for comfort and a slow pedalling motion got them there, but not in a hurry. One or two of them used to wave to me and say G’day; I know not who they were but their old bikes carried them forward with a gracefulness and ease I don’t often see these days.

Richard Bush YHS 1955 “Must be part of the uniform “ It’s well worn but in good shape. The badge is pinned proudly to the front. The stripes around the edge are as straight as the yellow band on Elaine Verey’s marching tunic. The lining is worn silky smooth - a sheen derived from years of coal dust and Brylcream (or was it Californian Poppy). The brand is “Tee Dee” – probably the initials of a small manufacturer from the days when clothing was made in Fitzroy or Collingwood. Inside it says “Size: six and seven eights” which was supposed to be a large size.

Marje Weston (Gray) YHS 1956 photo taken at mini reunion held at Bendigo last year. Left to right are: Annie Clark, Marje Weston (Gray), Jean Robinson (Humphreys), Margot Guzzardi (Teasdale) and Margaret Loft (Browitt) - all 1956ers.” Jean has been over from WA for several months firstly caring for her Mum, and after her death, finalising the estate, so they have taken the opportunity to catch up twice since the YOGA reunion dinner last March in Morwell. We have one more "meeting" planned before she returns to WA - lunch at Kyneton on July 31st.

Steve Gray YHS 1971…. Cubby huts and hidey-holes… I guess Yallourn was blessed with practically every house having a shed of some kind and we were lucky as we had both a garage and a shed. For our family, the humble shed that was meant for wood and garden implements (after starting its life as an outside toilet) soon became the place to hang out. For us it was the cubby house, a place where stories were told, billy carts and bikes were stored, but more importantly - as a hidey hole for friends to gather.

Richard Bush YHS 1955 wrote:- Fathers and Head Masters My father, Jim Bush, had a connection with Yallourn High School in the 1950s beyond his three children attending (aside from me, there was Elisa 1950 and Susan 1953). He was a member of the Advisory Council.