Sale, Victoria

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Sale is a city in the Australian state of Victoria, in Wellington Shire. It has a population of around 15,000.

Sale is also home to a large military airfield. RAAF Base East Sale is home to the renowned RAAF aerobatic team, the Roulettes, and up until early 2005 the main NavTrain in the south of Australia.

The town services smaller farming communities in the surrounding area, both through its large shopping area and three high schools ( Sale College (public), Sale Catholic College (private Secondary School) and Gippsland Grammar School (private Anglican)), along with many primary schools including St. Thomas', Araluen Primary and Sale '545' Primary. Sale is also home to the Sale Regional Art Gallery, Gippsland Base Hospital, St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral, St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral and the Fulham Correctional Centre.

Previously, Sale was significant as an office center for the Esso corporation but these operations were relocated around 1990, leaving only a Gas Processing facility in nearby Longford. On 25 September 1998 an explosion took place at this gas plant which killed two men and left much of Victoria, including the capital of Melbourne, without adequate gas supplies for a period of two weeks.

Sale's most beautiful attraction is arguably Lake Guthridge, which features a park for children, barbeques, and a walking trail around the lake, plus sufficient car parking facilities.

Contents 1 History 2 Media in Sale 2.1 Newspapers 2.2 Television 2.3 Radio 3 People from Sale 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] History

Two famous Gippsland explorers, Paul Strzelecki and Angus McMillan, passed through the immediate area around 1840. The first white settler was Archibald McIntosh who arrived in 1844 and established his 'Flooding Creek' property on the flood plain country which was duly inundated soon after his arrival.

In the 1840s, drovers heading south to Port Albert crossed Flooding Creek and were confronted with the difficult marsh country around the Thomson and Latrobe rivers. A punt operated across the Latrobe River until a toll bridge was erected.

The first town plots went on sale in 1850. When the new settlement was gazetted in 1851, the traditional name of the area, 'Flooding Creek', was dropped in favour of 'Sale' - a tribute to General Sir Robert Sale, a British army officer who won fame in the first Afghan war before being killed in battle in India in 1845.

The town greatly benefited from the 1851 gold rush at Omeo as it was situated on the Port Albert to Omeo route and was an important base for the goldfields, until the arrival of the railways. It was also an important service centre for East Gippsland and the Monaro Plains of New South Wales. A building boom took place c.1855-65.

In 1863 the population of Sale reached 1800 and it became a borough. The courthouse opened the following year. Shops, hotels and offices spilled over into Raymond Street and the first Anglican Church was erected on the site now occupied by St Anne's and Gippsland Grammar School. The Gippsland Times newspaper was established in 1861 while the first Star Hotel and the Criterion Hotel were built in 1865.

In terms of access, the first reasonable road from Melbourne arrived in 1865 and Cobb and Co established a rough-and-ready 24-hour coach service linking Melbourne and Sale. The Latrobe Wharf was built in the 1870s and two hotels emerged to exploit the new centre of activity. It was located near the present swing bridge although little is left.

Anthony Trollope visited Sale in 1872. Writing of the experience in Australia and New Zealand (1873) he spoke of the town's 'innumerable hotels' and concluded from his impressions that the Aborigines had little chance of surviving as a race. Children's author, Mary Grant Bruce, was born in the town in 1878.

A two-storey post office, with clock tower, was built in 1884 (it was demolished in 1963). The Sale gaol was completed in 1887 and it operated for 110 years until it was replaced by a private prison at Fulham. The building still stands but is now privately owned.

With the growth of shipping on the local waterways and the Gippsland Lakes (and the establishment of a railhead at Sale in 1879) schemes emerged to develop Sale as a port. The construction of the Sale Canal (complete with turning circle) duly commenced in the 1880s, thereby linking the town via the Thomson River and the Gippsland Lakes to the open sea. It was completed in 1890. Other elements were the swing bridge, completed in 1883, a high wharf, and a launching ramp which still exists in the heart of the city. However, neither the bridge nor the canal created the desired surge of trade and the depression of the 1890s soon engulfed the town. Sale became a town in 1924 and a city in 1950.

After oil was discovered offshore in 1965 the town experienced a boom period when it became the service and residential base of the Esso-BHP oil and gas exploration and development program. The unprocessed oil and gas is pumped through 700 km of undersea pipes to Longford, 19 km south of Sale. There the hydrocarbons are removed and used to produce LPG and ethane. The gas is piped to Melbourne and the oil to Westernport Bay and thence to Geelong and Altona from where it is shipped interstate and overseas. An oil and gas display centre in Sale outlines the formation, exploration and drilling processes. Esso's Longford gas plant was the site of a major explosion on 25 September 1998 which killed two employees and crippled the state's gas supplies.

The March Labour Day weekend witnesses the famous Marley Point Overnight Yacht Race which is the longest overnight inland yacht race in the world. It begins near Sale and concludes at Paynesville. A fishing contest is held at Lake Gutheridge every Easter and the Sale Music Festival at Gippsland Grammar School in June. The Sale Art Exhibition is held over August and September while the Sale show falls in October.

[edit] Media in Sale

[edit] Newspapers

Sale's local newspaper is the Gippsland Times. Two editions are released each week, one being the free home delivered Tuesday edition and the other on Friday.

[edit] Television

Commercial Networks Prime, WIN and Southern Cross Ten all broadcast into Sale from the Latrobe Valley transmitter at Mt. Tassie with all stations being based in Traralgon. All three channels have local commercials placed on their broadcasts and WIN TV also broadcasts a local news bulletin. Both national public broadcasters, ABC and SBS are broadcast into Sale as well. Digital Services are also transmitted.

[edit] Radio

Traralgon based Ace Radio commercial stations - 3TR FM and 3GV both cover Sale. The 3GV AM 1242kHz transmitter is located in Myrtlebank between Maffra and Sale. Most ABC stations are rebroadcast locally as well as the local ABC Gippsland station that is based in Sale. Community Radio station Life FM is based in Sale.

[edit] People from Sale

The following notable people are from Sale:

• Jason Gram, Australian rules footballer with the St Kilda Football Club
• Scott Pendlebury, Australian rules footballer with the Collingwood Football Club
• Dylan McLaren, Australian rules footballer with the Carlton Football Club

[edit] See also

• HM Prison Sale

[edit] External links

• Photos of Sale

Coordinates: 38°06′S 147°04′E