Thank you so much for uploading this, I have been wanting to see it for a while now. Such an important milestone in the history of Victorian industry. The town of Yallourn was so beautiful, it is an abolute tragedy that it was built on top of a coal seam and had to be demolished to expand the open cut mine in the 1970's and 80's. I highly recommend the book Yallourn Power Station: A History 1919 - 1989 by Colin Harvey to anyone wanting to learn more about the history and technical details of the original Yallourn power station and briquetting works.
Yes a wonderful director who made many films for the government film units (mainly the National Film Board). Also several features including King of The Coral Sea with Chips Rafferty in 1954.
A Documentary should be made now, directly mirroring this video from 1957 with its operation today. Would be fascinating. No politics, just a record of the passing of life.
Over here in America 🇺🇸. Back in those days if you didn’t go to college you either worked there with other relatives or you went into the military. Job like this you were set for life.
I bet George wished he could be the radio announcer instead of working with coal. The music used in these factual films always belies the blood sweat & tears these workers endured in reality
Fancy wearing light coloured gear while working with coal! Diana Fisher would be beside herself! And so much safety consciousness! If the high dive for the dogmen and construction work doesn't get you fast, the tinnitus buzz of industrial hearing damage surely must! I thought that improvements in car brake longevity came from technology.... but the way doggsy drives on the way to work I predict someone must have been changing his brake linings regularly!
at least he could afford a house and a car and feed a pile of kids and his wife didn't have to frag herself to look after the kids and hold a fulltime job just to scrape by
My older brother worked in similar power station in nz,meremere. I used to go through the plant as a 14yr old.The set-up identical to the plant shown here.Probably a bit smaller. Furnaces, turbines and lots of dials. All in one huge hall. Would've been '69.
Not even slightly. In the last 12 months brown coal was about 15% of Australia's electricity. Theres only Yallorn W and Loy Yang A and B left. World wide its even less
Sadly the once beautiful company owned town of Yallourn got in the way of the open cut mine and was demolished, its residents relocated to neighbouring towns of Moe, Newborough and beyond.
Nothing wrong with that...there were 3 shifts, 8am till 4pm, 4pm till midnight, midnight till 8am. Daylight in winter was around 7am. How do you know it's Winter anyway? I didn't hear Winter mentioned, but I could be wrong about that, as I'm getting long in the tooth. My father, myself and my two brothers worked in that power station.
It's to give the stairway plenty of clearance to the ground. The dredger moves on tracks and can also slew around, so it needs to be clear of the uneven coal surface.
The coal reclaimer he's operating moves along the coal stockpile. The ladder lifts up so it doesn't make contact with something or someone on the ground that shouldn't be there
Amazing…driving to work in an Australian built car …but without seat belts and likely a couple of Tooheys or VB in the glove box. No Health/occupational safety … no personal safety equipment, walking across live rail lines , exposures to toxins . People were expendable back then, glad we live in 2024
Seatbelts didn't become compulsory till the early 70"s and also there were no live lines on the railway system, as it was all overhead stuff. Your right about the health and safety though...that slowly evolved over time. A lot of exposure to asbestos, both in the power station and the open cut. My neighbour died from asbestosis.
Indeed, we have much cleaner ways of generating electricity now, but in its time, this was one of the greatest engineering acheivements in Australia and is an important piece of our history.
Thanks for showing this. An amazing piece of history and technology of a bygone era.
These old movies never get... old.
Glorious times
Thank you so much for uploading this, I have been wanting to see it for a while now. Such an important milestone in the history of Victorian industry. The town of Yallourn was so beautiful, it is an abolute tragedy that it was built on top of a coal seam and had to be demolished to expand the open cut mine in the 1970's and 80's.
I highly recommend the book Yallourn Power Station: A History 1919 - 1989 by Colin Harvey to anyone wanting to learn more about the history and technical details of the original Yallourn power station and briquetting works.
Absolutely love the production values in this little film. A wonderful vignette of 1957 life in Australia.
Days before dust collectors and presips, and you could ride the load, I can remember those days
Superb film quality.
The director of this, Lee Robinson, was involved in the Australian T V series Skippy and Barrier Reef.
Yes a wonderful director who made many films for the government film units (mainly the National Film Board). Also several features including King of The Coral Sea with Chips Rafferty in 1954.
@@NFSAFilmsawesome video maybe a relation to me !!!!
Awesome 👏 video very interesting 🤨
A Documentary should be made now, directly mirroring this video from 1957 with its operation today.
Would be fascinating.
No politics, just a record of the passing of life.
❤ Thank you for posting.
Our pleasure!
Over here in America 🇺🇸. Back in those days if you didn’t go to college you either worked there with other relatives or you went into the military. Job like this you were set for life.
I bet George wished he could be the radio announcer instead of working with coal.
The music used in these factual films always belies the blood sweat & tears these workers endured in reality
Legends
Fancy wearing light coloured gear while working with coal! Diana Fisher would be beside herself! And so much safety consciousness! If the high dive for the dogmen and construction work doesn't get you fast, the tinnitus buzz of industrial hearing damage surely must!
I thought that improvements in car brake longevity came from technology.... but the way doggsy drives on the way to work I predict someone must have been changing his brake linings regularly!
at least he could afford a house and a car and feed a pile of kids and his wife didn't have to frag herself to look after the kids and hold a fulltime job just to scrape by
My older brother worked in similar power station in nz,meremere. I used to go through the plant as a 14yr old.The set-up identical to the plant shown here.Probably a bit smaller. Furnaces, turbines and lots of dials. All in one huge hall. Would've been '69.
still used all over the world and Australia as the main form of electricity...
Not even slightly. In the last 12 months brown coal was about 15% of Australia's electricity. Theres only Yallorn W and Loy Yang A and B left.
World wide its even less
Sadly the once beautiful company owned town of Yallourn got in the way of the open cut mine and was demolished, its residents relocated to neighbouring towns of Moe, Newborough and beyond.
Lots of health and safety lol
Plenty 😂😂😂
What do you mean? There has always been a safety culture ..
6:23 When he started up the machine, I had this feeling that he should have put on a mask.
Driving to work on day shift in winter and the sun is already up.
Nothing wrong with that...there were 3 shifts, 8am till 4pm, 4pm till midnight, midnight till 8am. Daylight in winter was around 7am. How do you know it's Winter anyway? I didn't hear Winter mentioned, but I could be wrong about that, as I'm getting long in the tooth. My father, myself and my two brothers worked in that power station.
yep I think they did that for the camera man
Those blokes certainly got short shifts !
5:25 Can someone explain why the steps swing up?
Well, that coal loader moves.
It's to give the stairway plenty of clearance to the ground.
The dredger moves on tracks and can also slew around, so it needs to be clear of the uneven coal surface.
The coal reclaimer he's operating moves along the coal stockpile. The ladder lifts up so it doesn't make contact with something or someone on the ground that shouldn't be there
to allow the dredger to turn
So the steps don't get damaged by contact with ground or debris as the machine moves
🎉❤
No occupational health and safety back then
Yes there was a safety culture just people knew the limitations and took responsibility.
No end you say?
Amazing…driving to work in an Australian built car …but without seat belts and likely a couple of Tooheys or VB in the glove box. No Health/occupational safety … no personal safety equipment, walking across live rail lines , exposures to toxins . People were expendable back then, glad we live in 2024
No Tooheys in Victoria. Only the best from Carlton and United Breweries.
Seatbelts didn't become compulsory till the early 70"s and also there were no live lines on the railway system, as it was all overhead stuff. Your right about the health and safety though...that slowly evolved over time. A lot of exposure to asbestos, both in the power station and the open cut. My neighbour died from asbestosis.
@@Melbournelost66That is right....CUB only until the great strike in the 1970's and that started the XXXX and other interstate beer.
Auer Drives
Oh, dear. Thank god this era is coming to an end.
🤡🤡🤡🤡
Indeed, we have much cleaner ways of generating electricity now, but in its time, this was one of the greatest engineering acheivements in Australia and is an important piece of our history.
China and elsewhere still building coal power stations .
The seam eventually runs out anyway.