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. How fresh was that milk! In the early days, the milking room was lined with cork to keep it cool. By 1932 they had a quota of 60 gallons but this was during the Depression and milk prices dropped from three and halfpence to twopence a pint. Life became easier with the connection of power and refrigeration in 1934. They had also added a Fruit & Vegetable round to service Yallourn with supplies from the Melbourne Market. By 1946, their quota had reached in excess of 400 gallons and they had added Morwell Bridge and McDonald's Track to their round. As a teenager, I loved hearing the story told by great-aunt Amy's husband, Jack Carter, of what it was like doing the deliveries during wartime. For part of the trip, he would have bags over the lights of the milk truck and no lights were allowed once he got closer to Yallourn. He told us that the Japanese flew over Yallourn frequently and that there was a Military Base at Yallourn at the time. (Another uncle, Maurice Stoff, also from Yarragon, provided the sound system for the Athletic and Swimming Sports during the 1960s and 70s
