Stories

Alex McAllister (YHS 1935) came all the way over from WA for the reunion last March at Woorabinda.

He wrote: "I tried to catch your eye at the reunion but every time I looked, you were completely surrounded and appeared extremely involved. I was the only male of my year there, but I did meet with Myrtle O'Neill (Hattam) and her sister Jean Fox (Hattam), Eileen Mitchell (Kerr), Marg Ebsworth who was in the year below and Enid Mills, who was in the year above.

On the Tuesday following the reunion, my wife Prue, myself and Eileen Mitchell drove down to Mornington and visited… more

Arthur Hugh Bland I’ll try to be brief for, at 78, I am inclined to ramble, especially about the old days. My deep interests are not always entertaining to others. To begin at the beginning is always a good place….so Strzelecki Road is the place to start. My Aunts, Eunice Herbert and Muriel Herbert had a house there – I think number 3 from the corner. It was right at the top of the town and backed onto the bush. The neighbours were Mr & Mrs Law on the left, and Mr & Mrs Rainbow on the right. Mrs Rainbow just passed away recently at the age of 101. They had an only daughter, Sylvia… more

Barbara Godfrey (Comber) YHS 1942 - recently returned from Portschach, Austria where she played in the International team for over 75-year old tennis players in the "Friendship Cup", which is played against a team from America. Barbara writes: "The International team were from Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, Mexico & New Zealand. We had to play 3 set matches, singles and doubles. It was fantastic tennis as I discovered all of the American team members and 5 of our team members play all year singles and doubles every month all over the world and they go to a gym 4-5 times a week.… more

Beanland Families in Yallourn 1932 to 1965

Over the years, there have been two periods of time when the family of Howard Beanland lived in Yallourn. Howard first came to Yallourn in 1932, as Acting Principal of the Technical School when it occupied a row of timber cottages in Narracan Avenue. New buildings, opened in 1936 on the corner of Railway and Latrobe Avenues, were a big milestone of which Howard was very proud. He left Yallourn in 1943 when appointed as Principal of the new Technical School at Box Hill. His eldest son, Graham, returned to Yallourn in 1960 when appointed… more

PIONEERS OF MOE, YALLOURN AND MORWELL

Doug Farley YHS 1953 - wrote - “When I started school at Yallourn High in 1953, I had no idea that my great, great grandfather, William Robert Farley, originally owned all of our school site. In fact, he was the squatter on the old Merton Rush Run which was approx 24,000 acres and its borders were the LaTrobe River, the Narracan River, the Morwell River and the Wilderness Creek towards Yinnar and therefore took in all of Yallourn. So when I started at Yallourn it was exactly 101 years since he acquired the run.

William Robert Farley… more

Greg Wernert YHS 1956
Memories are Made of This Fifty years ago, a bunch of ragged (metaphorically speaking) kids late of Grade 6, East Newborough Primary School went on a character building journey to the glittering palace of secondary education, Yallourn High School. From memory, they were Effie Bridges (Carr), Ann Clark, Marilyn Kennedy, Gwenda Leverton, Linda Rendell (Reed), Judith Spackman, Margot Guzzardi (Teasdale), George Dibsdale, Bruce Garrett, Colin Nash, Derek Pym, Jeffrey Stearman, Rodney Thompson.

When I remember the people behind those names, many of whom… more

Irene Coates (Prosinskas) YHS 1952 wrote: I was going through the YOGA Newsletters looking to see if any of the Yallourn Tech Boys wrote in or are even connected to YOGA, they were such a great part of our lives once a week going passed the High School to swimming, all the girls had a sore neck peering out the windows to check on the talent, and searching for boyfriends.

I have just come back from Morwell, only a short trip this time. I thought you might like to know that Vivien Wakefield (Gardner) YHS 1953 has just had a serious op and it was successful; she had 4 strokes and… more

Iodine Tablets?? Judy Vise (Leech) YHS 1952 - wrote: I thoroughly enjoyed the book it brought back lots of memories. Coincidentally, my neighbour - Daryl George - saw it and attended Yallourn Tech at the same time. His father was a policeman in Yallourn. We were discussing the iodine tablets we used to take at school during the 50's. The Form captain administered them each Friday. Would like to know more information about the reasons and directives of this if anyone knows

Olga Dunn (Tabaczynski) YHS 1958 - wrote “found some photos of my dad (Mikolay) & his mates who came out from Germany in 1949 together to work in The SEC Yallourn, a year ahead of their families to setup work & accommodation. Mum & I came out in 1950, must have been difficult for a wife to be left to wait for a year & then come out with children on a boat to an unknown country - a real movie maker!

All the Tabaczynski family worked at the SEC at one time or other. My brother, Peter Tabaczynski(Taba) still works there and lives in Yallourn North with his partner,… more

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.

Like many civic-minded men of this pre-TV era, Jim was busy on many committees, although I’m not sure his role on the Advisory Council was very demanding - George Ellis probably had the Council well and truly tamed...but it did mean that Jim was seated with other luminaries on the stage during speech nights at the… more