Lakes Entrance Accommodation
Lake Entrance is an attractive holiday accommodation town
with access to numerous attractions such as the Gippsland
Lakes.
Lakes Entrance, originally known by Europeans as Cunninghame
after a prominent squatting family in the area, is 319
km east of Melbourne via the Princes Highway. As its name
suggests, Lakes Entrance is the gateway that allows ocean-going
vessels access to the Gippsland Lakes, the largest navigable
inland waterway in Australia.
Located inbetween the rivers you can find Lakes
Entrance Accommodation at Eastern Beach camping
grounds.
Fed by five major rivers and linked by narrow channels,
the great lakes of Gippsland cover 400 square kilometres
and extend 90 km down the coast. These coastal lagoons
were formed when the ocean's sand deposits created lengthy
sandspits, low-lying sand islands and dunes which eventually
formed a barrier (Ninety Mile Beach) separating Bass
Strait from the calmer waters they enclosed. The rivers
which flow into the area deposited silt and clay which
divided the inland water into a series of lakes and
swamps.
Two areas, covering 17 880 hectares, have been classified
as national parkland - the Lakes Entrance National Park
and the Gippsland Lakes Coastal Park. The region, known
as the Victorian Riviera, is noted for its minimal variation
in temperature the year round; being relatively warm
in winter and cool in summer.
With such a large area of land, accommodation at Lake
Entrance is not hard to find. All you need is a campervan,
RV or tent and you can enjoy your holiday at Lake Entrance.
Lakes Entrance Aboriginal inhabitants
The original Aboriginal inhabitants of the area were
of the Kurnai people. The Krauatungalung clan had two
divisions - the Wurnungatti in the Lake Tyers area and
the Brt-Hrita around Jemmy Point. Aboriginal legends
about the formation of the lakes centre on a frog that
once swallowed all of the world's water. The other animals
united in their efforts to make the frog surrender the
water by making it laugh. All deliberate attempts at
humour failed but the sight of the eel upright on its
tail caused hilarity and the subsequent outpouring of
the waters is said to have created the lakes.
Angus McMillan was the first European to investigate
the area, arriving at Lake Victoria in 1840. John Reeves
charted the lakes in 1843 and cattle runs were established
soon after. Ewing's Marsh is named after the Ewing brothers
who took up one such run around what is now Lakes Entrance
in 1850. It was sold to the Roadknight family in 1855
who travelled overland from Colac, to Melbourne, by
boat from Melbourne to Port Albert, by bullock wagon
to Sale, and then by a steamer to their final destination.
Three years later the Georgina Smith became the first
large vessel to find its way into the lakes from the
ocean, sailing up the Tambo River to Massiface with
supplies for the Crooked River goldfields. For the next
70 or 80 years Lakes Entrance played an important role
in the trade of East Gippsland.
Lakes Entrance History
The original access point to the lakes was a natural
opening about 2 km east of the present entrance, opposite
and below the Roadknight homestead on Merrangbaur Hill
near Lake Bunga. Although the channel was quite deep
it was inconsistent, shifting back and forth along the
sand barrier. By 1864 vessels were regularly using the
inlet and a pilot boat, The Lady of the Lake, was employed
to help schooners and steamers make their way through
the inlet.
The completion of the Melbourne to Sale railway (1879)
boosted shipping activity in the area. Supplies, passengers
and tourists were soon arriving from Sydney, Eden, Tasmania
and Melbourne by steamer, covering the remaining distance
from Sale and Bairnsdale by smaller boats. As a result
of this growth boatbuilding soon became an industry
in the area and agitation began for the construction
of a more stable and permanent, man-made entrance to
the lakes.
Work began on this project in 1869 but was temporarily
halted in 1872. It recommenced in 1881 and, on a stormy
night in 1889, the sea broke through, surging over 3000
sandbags and flooding several homes. The railway and
steam engines used to construct the piers are still
visible on both sides of the entrance. One unforeseen
circumstance was an increase in salinity which has caused
erosion on the banks and the decline of plant species
which do not tolerate salty water.
Oil was discovered 3 km east at Lake Bunga in 1924
and mined until 1945 when operations closed due to lack
of profitability, although Lakes Entrance still functions
as a service centre for the oil rigs offshore. Today
Lakes Entrance survives not only on tourism but also
on fishing, which began on a commercial basis in 1878.
The Lakes Entrance Salmon Company operated between 1900
and 1954 and in the 1960s the first large fishmeal plant
in Australia opened here.
During the 1970s and 1980s the town's deep sea fishing
fleet became one of the most important in Australia.
Its main catches are whiting, mullet, gurnard, flathead,
gummy sharks, bream, rock lobster and scallops. On Bullock
Island arrangements have been made for spectators to
watch the fleet of the Fisherman's Cooperative return
and unload its catch.
There's so much to do at Lakes Entrance and
with the right accommodation, it will be a
holiday to remember.
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