Memories of Yallourn by Harold Park (circa 1991)
My earliest recollections of Yallourn go back to 1936 when I commenced work at the Open Cut Maintenance. My wife, Kit, and I stayed at No 1 Hillside with Mr & Mrs Hehir (which was directly opposite the front entrance of the Yallourn High School - the house was later occupied by the McWilliams family).
Mick Hehir was foreman at the Open Cut and a very good and kind man he was, to us. Wednesday nights were late night shopping and the town square was lit up like Luna Park and everyone was there – not just to shop, but to meet and talk and laugh.
Charlie Turner of the Main Office conducted the Yallourn Band at their usual position at the Sir John Monash statue area and gave a carnival atmosphere to the town square with the bright and popular music. The Yallourn Fire Brigade provided plenty of action in their practise runs between the Post Office and the State Bank, amid loud cheers and applause as Hughie Graham and Bert Lester (who were Australian Champion Firemen) competed against time in scaling the water tower and hitting the target disc with the hose below, amid much laughter.
On occasions, Yallourn firemen would engage in a friendly competition against visiting brigades from Warragul or Trafalgar, which gave excitement to the events. Among Yallourn’s firemen were Perc Hannon, Don Benson, Bill Short, Alf Cook and two brothers from Wiluna in West Australia where they were firemen. The brothers, Phil and Dave Oakley, ran in the hose reel and gave stirring performances as they raced along Broadway with the wheels barely touching the ground – such was their strength and speed!
I had the task of organising a badminton club in the Fire Brigade’s Hall, as I had considerable experience as an A Grade player in Adelaide and Kalgoorlie. There were plenty of eager and apt pupils among the firemen and their families and soon they were competing in the Gippsland Pennant competition. I always remember the occasion one evening when they were playing in a pennant match and they were really keen to win. It was a warm night and the roller door was open to provide air, as much as to move the Dennis fire engine outside to clear the hall for play. Suddenly, in the midst of an exciting game, the fire alarm shrieked out and instantly the firemen dashed to the Dennis engine outside and off they went to the scene of the fire – which was only across the road at the Yallourn General Store. The fire was speedily dealt with. An hour later, they returned somewhat dishevelled and blackened in their white (?) badminton creams, with broad smiles and black faces, keen to resume where they left off.
We had many memorable times in the Fire Brigade with smoko’s, socials, badminton nights and the old time dances “Scotch Nights” held there by one enthusiastic Scot who was a construction foreman – I think his name was Jock Lambourne. However, his dances were very popular with the elder folk as well as the young.
Anxious times – Yallourn was not without its anxious periods and indeed the bushfires created a grim period for the residents and the SEC authorities alike when Black Friday eventuated, creating a circle of fire around Yallourn and the Open Cut and the power station.
The SEC called on all available employees to assist wherever help was needed. The SEC Forestry Department formed volunteer squads into patrols who eliminated small fires that suddenly sprang up into being from fire-damp which were spotted by planes circling the areas. I was one of a voluntary tanker crew who were directed by base wireless to deal with these menaces and we worked on this task until around midnight for about six weeks until the fires had spent themselves and the danger had passed.
Yallourn Health Centre medical staff had a busy time, treating a long line of people with smoke filled eyes and various types of burns etc., both fire-fighters and public. Yallourn locals were directed to the Yallourn Swimming hole where they were regarded as safe from bushfire menaces that were closing around the town area.
One neighbour collected all her dresses, including her husband’s brand new suit and stacked them in the baby’s pram and headed for the pool, but when she reached the slope down to the pool, the pram got away from her and hurtled down the street and straight into the murky water and floated out to the middle of the pool and sank.
Syd Pennington, the Yallourn supplier of wood and briquettes, lost 200 tons of ready stacked firewood at the foot of Coach Road when the bushfire swept down the hill to the fringe of the town as it was then. Two of the Yallourn firemen arrived with their hose and reel after a mad dash from the station and put out the flames as it reached the out-sheds of several houses at the foot of the road.
After the Black Friday was over, a Royal Commission was held in Yallourn Town Square before a large crowd and the result was the updating of Yallourn Fire Brigade in new premises in the town centre and numerous improvements in equipment and numbers. The Open Cut has a network of pipelines over levels that sprayed the brown coal area, keeping it damp during summer weather.
Entertainment for the Yallourn residents was provided by St John’s Church. Talking pictures were just coming into existence in Melbourne and elsewhere, but Yallourn had the silent pictures and music was by a pianist down in front of the screen. St John’s pianist was their choirmaster, Harry Bailey, and collecting at the church door was Bill Bowler, another pillar of the church, who also sold bags of home-made lollies to the patrons and children. Kit and I were regulars at these shows and really enjoyed the silent pictures – antiquated as it was. Lew Parry was film operator and usually played to a full house. The children occupied the front rows of seats and there were plenty of kids, believe me! Then one evening, an unexpected incident occurred that really scared us all – the film in Lew’s machine caught alight and it showed on the screen as though the whole stage were alight. Instantly, panic reigned and a mad rush was made for the exits by both children and adults. Fortunately, the fire got no further than Lew’s operating box at the rear, but nobody waited to learn what really happened. No casualties came out of the mad panic, though I believe there were several slightly injured kids and adults.
I always recall with some amusement the film put on at St Therese’s rival picture shows in their community hall. These were shown by a well-known identity named Charlie De Bono from the Brown Coal Mine (later Yallourn North). Charlie usually did a round of Gippsland towns showing his mobile talking shows in the local halls. Charlie, incidentally, was a welder with the SEC. This particular night, the talking picture was Dorothy Lamour in the Jungle Princess and we eagerly anticipated watching an actual talking picture. However, Charlie’s talking sound was not very consistent. Our seats were wooden forms and not the most comfortable and moreover, as the talking on the screen subsided lower and lower, we were bent forward trying to follow the words of Miss Lamour as they got fainter and fainter. Suddenly, Charlie found the fault, but unfortunately turned the sound full on and it fairly shocked we audience who were deafened by the blast and many fell off their seats – some in fright!
Then the modern theatre came to Yallourn when a beautiful brick building was erected in our town square, a talking theatre with the very latest machine and equipment, also a crying room at the rear of the theatre was for those mothers who did not need to leave the theatre for fear of disturbing the audience, but had a sound-proof cubicle in which they could still hear and follow the film. Upstairs was a large and comfortable balcony and a foyer for the interval smokers and refreshment seekers.
The theatre seated 800 people and had a sloping floor that Kit and I found out when our young daughter, Barbara, spilled a whole box of Jaffa lollies on to the floor and they rattled all the way down to the front seats and this during a tense part of the picture, which happened to be “Sweethearts” (starring Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald), the theatre’s grand opening film night – you can imagine the reaction!
Yallourn’s new theatre was said to be the most up-to-date and finest in the country area of the State and I quite believe it, as it was always packed and you had to book ahead to get a seat. People came from far afield to attend the shows that were always up-to-date.
During the war period, several incidents come to mind in one’s reflection of Yallourn and this one emphasises how alert they were for the defence of the power centre.
There were several “ack-ack” batteries positioned around Yallourn in defence of Victoria’s principal power production centre and one was erected at Yallourn North as it is now named.
Town residents of Yallourn were schooled in the event of an air-raid and air-raid shelters were dug in everyone’s back garden, as well as around the town, including along Broadway between the shops and the hotel, and great craters were dug at vantage points around the town and at the Administrative offices near its main entrance, as well as across the road at the Yallourn Hotel for a water supply. Broadway had a nice deep and well boarded air-raid shelter, which later became a favourite resort of courting couples until the SEC decided to fill it in.
One warm and moonlit night, Yallourn residents were wakened to the wail of air-raid alarms and the sound of a lone plane flying over the town. Town air-raid wardens came running along the street calling to sleepy residents to get into their air-raid shelters.
My wife, Kitty, hastily collected the children (I was overseas at the time) and headed for our backyard air-raid shelter, only to find that water seepage had filled it up and a dead cat floated on the surface. However, the raid was a false alarm as the plane was an RAAF one that got off course and failed to give identification when called on by the anti-aircraft batteries, who then fired on him. The RAAF authorities at Laverton Centre apologised for the pilot’s error and added that the Yallourn North battery did a good job in aiming, as their shells burst very close to the plane, fairly scaring the wits out of the pilot.
A memorable period in Yallourn’s history was the visit by Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to Yallourn and an inspection of the Open Cut. Two large fountains were specially made at the Yallourn Base Workshops for the occasion and erected in the Town Square and were indeed a pleasant sight when in full spray. They were, I believe, designed by Bill Langford, Workshops boiler shop supervisor, who also arranged their construction. A very good job indeed!
I had the honour of being in the Guard of Honour for the Queen when she was making her speech at the gathering at the Railway Station. Quite a memorable day for all at Yallourn. The Royal train stopped at the Yallourn Railway Station while the visit was made, but we did not get a real close up of it, but it was a visit that must remain in many people’s memories. I know it will remain with me when I gave the Royal couple a Royal salute as they passed us at the Yallourn Hotel where we lined the route.
It is sad to lose such a beautiful town and it will always be in the minds and memories of those who lived there and as long as we have such people as those who organise the ‘Back to Yallourn’ reunions, the old town will be vivid in our thoughts. Keep up the good work girls!!
I smile when my daughter, Irene, says that when she drives along Princes Highway past the site where our old home once stood and the Open Cut area, she tells her friends – “that is where I was born!” – and points to the large hole in the ground – her friends look askance at her, but Irene sees not a hole in the ground, but a lifetime of memories!
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