Stories

YALLOURN HOCKEY CLUB by Wendy Hunter

Well as I'm a little memory keeper of important things from my childhood, I have come across some of my treasured Yallourn Hockey Club memorabilia.

I'd like to share this with anyone who is interested. I started playing hockey in 1975 (Grade 5) for Yallourn. We wore white tops, navy blue skirts and orange socks..... yes orange! I don't know who decided on them and we always had to defend them, but it did look nice. I played right up to the very last day when A, B & C grades all won the grand final...... we received a flag from the… more

The decision to build a Methodist church at 1 Northway was made in1923. Before this, a cottage in Hillside was the scene of the first services. Earlier Church officers had been appointed, they were Messrs T Sinclair, W Cook, C Brinsmead and H Meers. The congregation was allocated a site on Reservoir Road. It was on a rough slope, thickly covered with heavy scrub leading down to Northway which, for a short time before, had been a creek bed. The Church building was completed mainly by voluntary labour costing around 300 pounds for material and some labour. It was valued at well over 1000… more

Yallourn was a vibrant, spirited and enterprising town in the 1950’s. There were 1000 homes (approx) in the township and the SECV camps and married
quarters were fully occupied. Hernes Oak had grown to the point where a new school building was being considered and homes were under construction in
Yallourn North and Newborough.

Yallourn was a town in transition. As the power industry expanded and the region developed, Yallourn became the centre of that rapid transformation.
The population of Yallourn was 5000. There were 600 pupils enrolled at the High School and… more

"This document written by my dad and acquired by me (Irving Stephens) from Old Brown Coal Mine Museum on Sunday, March 14th 2010 after a Yallourn Old Girls'/Guys' Associaton reunion at the Woorabinda Camp Site on the Latrobe River just west of Yallourn North township. I had not sighted the document previously and have been delighted to get a copy from the museum. Dad rarely fails to date a document. This script suggests it was written in 1967 when he resided at Boronia....."
Not a life story, just some happenings in the Old Brown Coal Mine. I was born in Kalgoorlie in Western… more

One funny note on the soccer. In about 1957, Colin Ellis’s dad came up to Yallourn Primary School one assembly and told us there would be a pie night, free soft drink and cartoons at the Soccer Club. It was the most exciting thing I’d ever heard, so I joined the Soccer Club and played for a couple of seasons.

The Yallourn Football Club started pre-season training but they had no juniors, they were all playing soccer, so they put on a pie night! I couldn't believe my luck! The pies were great!

PS: Does anybody know what happened to George Plavins? He was a great soccer player… more

One funny note on the soccer. In about 1957, Colin Ellis’s dad came up to Yallourn Primary School one assembly and told us there would be a pie night, free soft drink and cartoons at the Soccer Club. It was the most exciting thing I’d ever heard, so I joined the Soccer Club and played for a couple of seasons.

The Yallourn Football Club started pre-season training but they had no juniors, they were all playing soccer, so they put on a pie night! I couldn't believe my luck! The pies were great!

PS: Does anybody know what happened to George Plavins? He was a great soccer player… more

1958 TROPHY WINNERS….LIFE MEMBERSHIPS TO DES MADDEN & JIMMY SHAW

In 1958 the Yallourn Football Club’s Annual Presentation of Trophies was held on the 30th September at the Hernes Oak Hall. The highlight of the evening was the conferring of YFC Life Memberships upon Des Madden and Jimmy Shaw. Des and Jimmy had each played more than 200 games for Yallourn FC and both had been dominant players in the CGFL and the LVFL. ‘Champion’ is an often over-used term in sporting vernacular but there would be little argument that the title sits well with both. For more than a decade, Des and… more

THE HISTORY OF THE YALLOURN SOCCER CLUB
INTRODUCTION:
Julie asked me whether I would prepare a history of the Yallourn Soccer Club seeing that I was awarded a Master’s Degree (Research) from Victoria University in 2002 on the same subject "Coal, Steel & Leather – The History of Soccer in Gippsland". I agreed. That work centred on three Gippsland soccer clubs, the Wonthaggi Magpies, Yallourn Soccer Club and the Morwell Falcons, each in turn were "Champions of Victoria" during the twentieth century.

I have decided to provide a series of episodes or chapters based… more

YALLOURN FOOTBALL CLUB 1945-65

60 YEARS AGO ~ 1953 IN REVIEW
& KEVIN FANNING

1953 was a momentous season for the Blues. It started with the tragic death of Simon Shaw. The news of Simon’s death, in February that year, reverberated far and wide and had a dramatic effect on all in the district (see the Virtual Yallourn story regarding Simon Shaw). It was only eight years after the end of World War II . The Latrobe Valley was a region in rapid transition and Yallourn was at the centre of that industrial and social change.
Prue McGoldrick wrote…
“Yallourn… more

When planning for Yallourn “C” Power Station started in the late 1940s, it was clear that some items, in particular transformers (which cannot be broken into parts) would be too big and heavy to be carried by rail, as was done for the earlier “A” & “B” Stations. A road transport trial was conducted by the SEC in April 1952. In 1951, the only suitable truck available in Australia was the 1940 American DIAMOND-T 980, a WW2 6x4 tank recovery and transport prime mover, capable of handling armoured vehicles of about 30 tons, such as US Grant and Sherman tanks.

To continue, click… more