Lakes Entrance - Culture and History

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.

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.