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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. Marys' 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 September1998 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.
Sales most beautiful attraction would have to be Lake Guthridge,which boasts a park for the kids, barbeques, and a walking trail around the lake, plus ample car parking facilities.
History
Sale's prosperity grew on the flurry of excitement generated by the Omeo, 'Stringers Creek and Crooked River gold rushes. Although settlement had begun soon after explorer Strzelecki passed through in 1840, it was Sale's strategic location on the route between Port Albert and the gold diggings that saw it develop. It became a borough in 1863, was declared a town in 1924 and a city in 1950. The cutting of the Sale Canal in 1888 linked the town to the Thomson River and established it as a busy port for steamers plying the 400 square kilometre GippsIand Lakes system. During the 1880s the swing bridge - still visible 5 km south of the city -was operated up to 20 times day to allow larger vessels to dock In the heart of Sale. Latter day prosperity has stemmed from its proximity to the vast offshore oil and gas fields of Bass Strait.
See also
External links
"Sale, Victoria"