Stories

Alex McAlister YHS 1935, sent in this poem:

Eye have a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks I kin knot sea

I strike a quay and type a word
And weight four it to say
Whether I am write oar wrong
It shows me strait a weigh

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My… more

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. The baking… more

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.
The exact date is not something that I can give you but it was the first school day of 1944, the day the bush fire got everyone excited and had the cut… more

Steve Gray YHS 1971 - continues with his High School - the early bits - Part 2: Form 2 The school persisted with “General Studies” despite some parent’s protests about the lack of resources seeing as the “smart kids” grabbed all the good resources first. We were now in the double portable next to the basketball court; yes still 70 odd kids and yes still with a lot of noise. I have come to realise it’s no wonder I did little work, the noise was (and still is!) a big downfall of mine. I had a great year of day dreaming and my results reflected that.
We now had Mr and Mrs Phillips, Mrs… more

Margaret Reid YHES 1942 Margaret Reid YHES 1942 Margaret Reid YHES 1942 Margaret Reid YHES 1942 still keeps in contact with Barbara Baker and Ann Griffiths. She writes: "School Days in the 1940s - I commenced in Form 1 of Yallourn Higher Elementary School in 1942. At that time, I lived in Morwell and travelled by school bus to Yallourn. Japan had just entered the war and there was a real fear that Yallourn could be attacked from the air, with the Power Station being the prime target. The SEC arranged for air-raid shelters to be built in the school grounds. When they were completed, the… more

Laurel Dodson (Beasley) YHS 1956 - sent this - which would be quite funny if it wasn’t so close to the truth!!

Scenario 1 Jack goes rabbit shooting before school, pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack. 1959 Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s rifle, goes to his car and gets his rifle and chats with Jack about guns. School goes into lock down. Tactical Response called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his ute or gun again. Counsellors called in for traumatised students and teachers.

Scenario 2 Johnny & Mark get into fistfight at school. 1959… more

John Lewis YHS 1954: My thanks go to David Drane for his "A Trip Around Yallourn High" as it bought back some nice memories. I am surprised David forgot about the location of room 13, as it was right next to room 12! In fact, it was set between rooms 12 and 14. Room 13 was at the end of the building block opposite the boys’ quadrangle. The next block further along, and set at right angles, was separate and made of detached prefabs with two rooms numbered 14 and 15. A similar set of prefabs parallel it, making up rooms 16 and 17. I recall that room 13 was set up as a sewing room and so in… more

Gladys Byrne (Meadows) YHS 1940 used to cycle down to Yallourn High School once a week in the 1940s from the Brown Coal Mine State School for their cooking classes. Her son, Graeme, attended Yallourn Primary School and Yallourn Tech and younger daughter, Lynette, also attended Yallourn PS. However, it's Robyn we want to recognise today - Robyn attended Yallourn PS and started Yallourn High School in 1967. On Australia Day, she was awarded an Order of Australia Day medal for her service to the community of South Melbourne and Port Melbourne through health care and legal services. Robyn was… more

YALLOURN SOCCER CLUB Barry Hill wrote: "Having been born in Yallourn Hospital in 1962 and been back numerous times before I was 7 (because my arm was constantly being dislocated after my brothers constantly "threw me into the turnbuckle" (our couch) while trying to imitate Mario Milano), I wanted to reach out to those of you who also grew up at this time and played for the great Yallourn Soccer club.

My first year was 1969 and the mighty U/8 reds record was 13 wins, 1 defeat, 88 goals for and two against. The coach was Mick Duke & Ernie McKinney. The team was Paul Brown,… more

Valma Frost (Hamilton) YHS 1943 by Sonja Bates (Ostlund):
It is with much sadness that my life long friend, Valma, passed away in Feb 08 after a battle with cancer. She lived in Yallourn and attended the State School and the High School. She had been a member of the Yallourn Old Girls' Association since it began in 1976 and as a Committee Member, contributed quietly to the running of the group.
We played basketball in our early teens and had enjoyable matches against Moe, Morwell, Trafalgar and Yallourn North. I was a goaler and Valma was Wing Attack. When the umpire blew the… more