Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria, Australia built between 1921 [1] and 1961 [2] to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station complex. However, expansion of the adjacent open-cut brown coal mine led to the closure and removal of the town in the 1980s. Whilst the township no longer exists, at the 2006 census, the adjacent region classified as Yallourn had a population of 251. [3]
The town was planned by A.R. La Gerche, the State Electricity Commission's Architect. It is sometimes mistakenly thought to have been designed by Walter Burley Griffin, who planned Canberra, Australia's capital city.
The design of Yallourn incorporated lessons learnt from the early UK garden cities of Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth Garden City inspired by Ebenezer Howard. The design of Yallourn established a formal central square adjacent to the shopping area and a formal "Broadway" bounded by parks between the shopping area and railway station. The whole town area was surrounded by a green belt varying between native vegetation, open parkland and sporting and recreational complexes.
The majority of the land and buildings, with the churches and several minor properties as the exceptions, were owned by the S.E.C.V. Residents were charged below market rentals and the S.E.C.V. adopted the role of paternalistic landlord in addition to its role as employer to the majority of the town's income earners. The conflicts this created caused continuing concern throughout the life of the town. For the majority of the town's life, citizen involvement was limited, residents being represented in their dealings with the S.E.C.V. by a Town Advisory Council that was established in 1947. [4]
Houses within the town were constructed to a limited number of designs but these were varied by differing external detailing and surface finishes. A brick and tile manufacturing plant was built near the town and produced a characteristic terracotta roofing tile which was used to clad most homes. The pitch of the roof structure and overhanging eaves remained similar throughout the town, providing a common theme without the sameness characteristic of English garden city developments. The homes were placed on large plots, typically of 1000 m2, the design brief from General Sir John Monash, the initial S.E.C.V. chairman requiring that each plot should have sufficient land to permit the tenant to keep a horse and a garden.
The town boasted outstanding public facilities many years in advance of similar rural or suburban communities of similar size, the majority funded by the S.E.C.V. A close community spirit developed within the town, in part through enthusiastic usage of the excellent facilities.
The Yallourn railway line was opened to the town in January 1922 as a branch junctioning at Hernes Oak on the main Gippsland railway; this line was replaced by a one on an easier gradient extending east from Moe in September 1953, which was electrified in 1955. [5] The local railway station closed to passengers in the 1960s, [6] with the line then being used primarily to haul briquettes from the Yallourn briquette factory. When the factory closed, the line was used to haul briquettes from the Morwell factory to Yallourn, as briquettes were used as the initial fuel when lighting the furnaces in the power station until enough steam was generated to dry the brown coal used as the main fuel. Closure of the line occurred in 1986 when the transport of briquettes shifted to trucks. [7]
Yallourn Post Office opened on 8 October 1923 (being renamed from Western Camp which opened the previous year) and closed in 1980 when the town was removed. An earlier Yallourn Post Office opened in 1921 and was renamed Eastern Camp in 1923. Another Western Camp Post Office opened in 1924 and closed in 1968. [8]
At its peak the town's population reached 5000. However, in 1968 the S.E.C. decided to demolish the town to make way for further mining. Despite an attempted green ban to save the town, [9] by 1983 demolition was complete, [4] the underlying brown coal reserves being used to feed the Yallourn W Power Station. Many of the people who were relocated from Yallourn built homes in Moe, Morwell, Newborough, Traralgon, Yallourn North and other surrounding towns in the Latrobe Valley.
Many of the houses from the town were removed, either to these nearby towns, or on occasion moved further afield. The timber-framed buildings were reclad, although most retained their characteristic Yallourn tiled roof. The S.E.C.V. developed some properties, particularly in small developments in nearby Newborough where Yallourn houses were removed and samples of the conversions that were possible were showcased. These transplanted Yallourn homes remain popular with former Yallourn residents.
Golfers play at the course of the Yallourn Golf Club on Golf Links Road in neighbouring Yallourn Heights. [10]
Yallourn is widely credited as being among the catalyst for the success of soccer in the Latrobe Valley, [11] fielding many organised teams in the Latrobe Valley Soccer League, including the Yallourn Soccer Club - which in the 1950s had as many as 15 teams, including 12 schoolboy teams [12] - and smaller clubs, such as Red Triangle Yallourn (composed of workers from the town's East and West Camps) and the Yallourn YMCA. [13] [14]
In 1947 Yallourn SC was granted entry into the Men's State League. After winning promotion in 1950 to the highest division in the Victorian State League, Yallourn was crowned Victorian Champions in 1951. Yallourn won the league title by four points, losing only once all season. [15] The Club's local LVSL team also won league championships in 1964 and 1996 and four Battle of Britain Cups (1954, 1964, 1965 and 1966).
With the closure of the township in the 1970s, Yallourn SC amalgamated with nearby Newborough United and today still exists as the Newborough-Yallourn United , which celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2023. For the centenary season, the club adopted a commemorative 'Yallourn' emblem and wore the original Yallourn SC's red jersey with a distinctive 'Y' emblazoned on the front of the kit, as per the original club. [16]
In June 1952, during the 1952 VFL season, a senior Australian Football League (formerly the VFL) game between Footscray and St Kilda was played at Yallourn Oval, with St Kilda being victorious. The match was organised as part of an effort by the Australian National Football Council (ANFC) to promote the sport, and the other matches in the round were played in Albury, Brisbane, Euroa, Hobart, and Sydney (all non-standard venues). The match in Yallourn was affected by rain, but still drew a crowd estimated at 3,500 people. [17] [18]
In 1974 the SEC made a living history documentary about Yallourn, Born to Die. [21] [22] In June 2008, the ABC Radio program Hindsight presented a two-hour radio documentary about the history of Yallourn, The Model Town and the Machine: A History of Yallourn. [23]
The Weddings, Parties, Anything song Industrial town is about Yallourn. The band's frontman Mick Thomas was born in Yallourn and lived there as a child, where his father worked for the SEC. [24]
Traralgon is a town located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the 2021 census was 26,907. It is the largest and fastest growing city in the greater Latrobe Valley area, which has a population of 77,168 at the 2021 Census and is administered by the City of Latrobe.
Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria, Australia approximately 152 km (94 mi) east of Melbourne.
The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation. The district lies east of Melbourne and nestled between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Baw Baw Ranges, part of the Great Dividing Range, to the north. Mount St Phillack is the highest peak to the north of the Latrobe Valley, due north of Moe. The highest peak to the south is Mt Tassie, south of Traralgon.
The City of Latrobe is a local government area in the Gippsland region in eastern Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of 1,426 square kilometres (551 sq mi) and in June 2018 had a population of 75,211. It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living within the four major urban areas of Moe, Morwell, Traralgon, and Churchill, and other significant settlements in the LGA include Boolarra, Callignee, Glengarry, Jeeralang, Newborough, Toongabbie, Tyers, Yallourn North and Yinnar. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Moe, City of Morwell, City of Traralgon, Shire of Traralgon, and parts of the Shire of Narracan and Shire of Rosedale. The Yallourn Works Area was added in 1996. When formed, the municipality was called the Shire of La Trobe, but on 6 April 2000, it adopted its current name.
Moe railway station is located on the Gippsland line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Moe, and it opened on 1 March 1878.
Moe is a town in the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is approximately 130 kilometres east of the central business district of Melbourne, 45 kilometres due south of the peak of Mount Baw Baw in the Great Dividing Range and features views of the Baw Baw Ranges to the north and Strzelecki Ranges to the south.
The Hazelwood Power Station was a decommissioned brown coal-fuelled thermal power station located in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. Built between 1964 and 1971, the 1,600-megawatt-capacity power station was made up of eight 200MW units, and supplied up to 25% of Victoria's base load electricity and more than 5% of Australia's total electricity demand. It was a 'subcritical' pulverized coal-fired boiler. The station was listed as the least carbon efficient power station in the OECD in a 2005 report by WWF Australia, making it one of the most polluting power stations in the world. At 1.56 tonnes of CO2 for each megawatt hour of electricity, it was 50% more polluting than the average black coal power station in New South Wales or Queensland. Hazelwood emitted 14% of Victoria's annual greenhouse gas emissions and 3% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.
The Yallourn Power Station, now owned by EnergyAustralia a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong-Kong-based CLP Group, is located in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia, beside the Latrobe River, with the company town of Yallourn located to the south west. Yallourn PS was a complex of six brown coal–fired thermal power stations built progressively from the 1920s to the 1960s; all except one have now been decommissioned. Today, only the 1,450 megawatts (1,940,000 hp) Yallourn W plant remains. It is the second largest power station in Victoria, supplying 22% of Victoria's electricity and 8% of the National Electricity Market. The adjacent open cut brown coal mine is the largest open cut coal mine in Australia, with reserves sufficient to meet the projected needs of the power station to 2028. On 10 March 2021, EnergyAustralia announced that it will close the Yallourn Power Station in mid-2028, four years ahead of schedule, and instead build a 350 megawatt battery in the Latrobe Valley by the end of 2026. At the time, Yallourn produced about 20% of Victoria's electricity.
The State Electricity Commission of Victoria is a government-owned renewable electricity investment enterprise in Victoria, Australia. Originally a major energy supplier in the state, the SEC was privatised in the 1990s before being revived in 2023 to invest in renewable energy and storage.
The Gippsland line is a railway line serving the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland regions of Victoria, Australia. It runs east from the state capital Melbourne through the cities of Moe, Morwell, Traralgon, Sale and terminating at Bairnsdale.
Newborough is a town in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Australia which shares a border to its west, mostly along the Narracan Creek, with the town of Moe. It can be divided into three areas, Old Newborough, East Newborough and North Newborough. The latter two areas were developed by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in the 1950s as residential housing for workers at the nearby Yallourn coal mining, power generation and briquette making works. Newborough now has a higher than average proportion of retirees and aged residents, and it has been suggested that it owes its generally quiet character to this fact. At the 2016 census, Newborough had a population of 6,763.
The Energy Brix Power Station was a brown coal–fired thermal power station located at Morwell, in Victoria, Australia. The power station was used to supply electricity for the retail market, as well as the production of briquettes in the adjacent Energy Brix briquette works. It was shut down in August 2014 and is currently the earliest surviving large-scale power station designed to provide electricity to the state electricity network.
Yallourn North is a town in the City of Latrobe, Victoria, Australia. It is approximately eight kilometres north-east of Moe, and 146 kilometres south-east of Melbourne. Prior to 1947 Yallourn North was known as "Brown Coal Mine".
The Newport Power Station was a complex of power stations located on the west bank of the Yarra River, approximately 6 km south-west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in the suburb of Newport. Newport A, B, and C were coal-fired plants which operated at the site between 1919 and the 1980s, and were claimed to be the largest power station in the southern hemisphere in 1953 with 42 boilers and 14 turbo-alternators producing 327 megawatts (439,000 hp).
Energy in Victoria, Australia is generated using a number of fuels or technologies, including coal, natural gas and renewable energy sources. Brown coal, historically, was the main primary energy source for the generation of electricity in the state, accounting for about 85% of electricity generation in 2008. The amount of coal-fired power has decreased significantly with the closure in 2017 of the Hazelwood power station which supplied around 20% of Victoria's electricity, and to a lesser extent with the exit of Anglesea power station in 2015. Brown coal is one of the largest contributors to Australia's total domestic greenhouse gas emissions and a source of controversy for the country. Australia is one of the highest polluters of greenhouse gas per capita in the world.
The Yallourn 900 mm railway was a 900 mm narrow gauge railway operated by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. The railway was built for the haulage of brown coal and overburden between the Yallourn open cut mine, briquette works, and power station. The Morwell Interconnecting Railway (ICR) was later constructed, linking the Yallourn mine complex with the Hazelwood open cut, briquette works, and power station.
Two different railway lines serviced Yallourn during its existence. Both were broad gauge branches from the main Gippsland line in Victoria, Australia. The first was a line branching from a junction at Hernes Oak, situated between Moe and Morwell, which was in service from 1922 to 1955. The second Yallourn railway line junctioned at Moe, and was used between 1953 and 1986.
Churchill is a town in the Latrobe Valley, located in central Gippsland in the east of Victoria, Australia. The town had a population of 4,568 at the 2016 census, and is part of the Latrobe City local government area. The town was named in honour of former British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, who had died earlier in the year the town's establishment was announced.
The Victorian regional leagues are the ninth level of soccer in Victoria, Australia, and the tenth nationally. The league consists of eight separate regional senior leagues and is administered by the Football Federation Victoria.
Latrobe Valley Soccer League (LVSL) is a soccer league encompassing much of Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley. The association's headquarters are based in the Morwell, Victoria (Victoria), and are affiliated under the auspices of Football Victoria (FV).
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