The report on the establishment of the town of Yallourn was drawn up by the 15th December, 1921. The architect was A.R. La Gerche, the State Electricity Commission’s own architect. His plan was influenced by those of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England.
The position of the proposed town was almost halfway between Moe and Morwell and about 1½ miles north of the main Gippsland railway line. To the north was the Latrobe River and on the east, the river flats that would become the Yallourn open cut mine. To the west was country comprising part of the Haunted Hills and to the south was a depression known locally as the “Melbourne Swamp”. The country, except for a few square miles of the river flats, was covered with timber; mostly messmate and Stringybark. The gullies were filled with ferns and wallabies and kangaroos were numerous.
Maiden Street was where the first houses would be built using SECV workers. Subsequently several batches of houses were built under contracts covering the labour but with the SECV supplying the materials. The houses were constructed of a limited number of designs with different detailing and finishes. A brick and tile manufacturing plant was built near the town in 1922 and it produced the bricks used for some of the houses and the characteristic terracotta roofing tiles seen on all Yallourn houses. The pitch of the roof structure of these houses was reminiscent of an English garden city. The house blocks were large enough for each tenant to “keep a horse and a garden”.
The design of Yallourn established a central square adjacent to the shopping area and a normal “Broadway” bounded by parks between the shopping area and railway station. The whole town was surrounded by a green belt varying between native vegetation, open parkland and sporting and recreational services. The streets would be lined on both sides with trees - Oriental Plane, Poplar, English and American Ash, English Elm, Silver Birch, Rowan and Silky Oak. A garden nursery would be established to provide plants for beautifying home gardens.
By June 30, 1922, thirty houses had been completed with sixty more the following year.
