Self-guided true crime tour in the Brown Coal Mine

Here is the information you need to take a self-guided crime tour in the Brown Coal Mine.

To make the best of this post:

  • Listen to Episode 3: Brown Coal Mine – Crime
  • Become a patron, supporters get ad-free content, bonus episodes and exclusive content.
  • Go see Yallourn North, Victoria (It’s worth the visit.)
  • See the Yallourn North and District Historical Society also known as the Old Brown Coal Mine Museum

Many of the locations you need for this do not exist. Still, we have done our best to find the locations so if it is not, a 200-foot drop into a coal mine or private property, you can check it out. Alternatively, this post can help you take a virtual crime tour in the Brown Coal Mine.

If you want to explore the real-life location it is now called Yallourn North Victoria, located in the hills of Gippsland 10 minutes detour from the Princes Highway. There is a lot to do in the township and surrounding areas.

The virtual or self-guided crime tour of the Brown Coal Mine

The police station building moved after 1950 and is now a private residence on the corner of Reserve St and Anderson Avenue. Please respect their privacy. The interior of the building has changed. However, the outside dimensions are historical. The building was originally where the car park for the Yallourn North Outdoor Pool, (Third St, Yallourn North) is currently.

Diagonally opposite the old police station (Reserve Street, Yallourn North) over the fence of the tennis courts, an unsolved crime occurred. It upset the ladies of the Brown Coal Mine who had worked hard to create a festive banner with red fabric on it reading “CAROLS” — organised to advertise the combined churches carols of Yallourn North held in the hall. Mrs Cook never found out who took it and they never returned it. She is still upset about this.

At the Old Brown Coal Mine Museum (Third Street, Yallourn North), is a historic lock-up from Yallourn you can see and find out how long you can stay inside alone.

gaol Yallourn

Where crimes occurred, most of the buildings are ghosts.

The Brown Coal Mine Picture Theatre was on School Ave, near the corner the fence closest to the Cricket Field and High Street. It is through discovering about the theatre I found a related crime story. A moviegoer who drunk too much during the showing. While walking home on Barrack St, he found the call of nature too strong. Even though he was only 70 meters from the public toilets or 50 meters from his home. He stopped there in the street and released his stream. He didn’t think he stood under a street light, but a lady who saw him was shocked and reported him. At the court, peeing in the street was called ‘indecency’ he was fined 2 pounds plus court costs.

Most of the shops discussed in the podcast were on the ‘road to nowhere.’ Otherwise known as Shop Street, Main Street, Second Street – the ghost town part of Yallourn North. The location is still accessible on the other side of Third Street opposite the Brown Coal Mine Museum, down to the left where it opens up revealing a sealed bitumen road.

The arson tale told in the podcast occurred on Reserve Street opposite the Skate park.

Places mentioned but you cannot access even to view the area around them:

The East Camp, you cannot access this area today. It is part of the mine. But along the Latrobe River from Halls Bay, Lake Nararcan is an area in which a number of crimes of occurred.

The West Camp is near where the Yallourn W Power Station is. This location is not a publicly accessible place. You can see it.

The crime tour of the Brown Coal Mine took this route

When I conducted the tour I walked the town in I took people to these locations which were atmospheric or related to something. The town has changed so much since it’s commencement.

Historically a street full of houses in Brown Coal Mine

The tour started at Lions Park, Reserve Street, Yallourn North we’d walk a few hundred metres to the Magdalene Op Shop for the first crime story. In 2011 the wig model, named Sarah had her long blonde hair wig taken. The volunteers couldn’t understand why someone would do this. They did not see it as a necessary item for maintaining life like food for instance.

Magdalene Op Shop Reserve St

An example of how the town has changed is that this shopping complex was built after the 1950 mine slip. Previously to this, there were two rows of houses following Reserve Street with a laneway for the nightman between and other houses behind.

The next place wasn’t far away either, it was on the edge of the Yallourn North Bowling Club’s Car Park, for the next crime, or accident, or something. We did not walk down there for practicality reasons – it’s too steep and far. However, if you want to – the best way to access the road you can see through the trees is going back to Reserve Street and take the right opposite the Skateboard park. It’s an atmospheric road. It features in the next podcast – Ghost Stories of the Brown Coal Mine.

There was a butcher with the historical facade on North Road, it now looks different as it has been converted into a home. But that is where I told a crime story which occurred at the butchers.

As with all good crime tours something happened in an alley.

graffiti, laneway, drama, red cape,

This is the alley that joins North Road next to the Saint Bridget’s Catholic Church and Anderson Avenue. This alley runs parallel to Reserve Street.

Then back through to the alley to see the location of the historical police station.

I’m facing the historical police station (Which is a private residence we did not enter). The tennis court fence is behind.

Down Gooding Street, up High Street, then back to those areas on School Avenue, Third Street and back to Reserve Street.

The tour then went past the places where the police station was originally, up past the Old Brown Coal Museum returning back to Lions Park.