Sale was at first called Flooding Creek, an apt description as much as a name. From the time when Archibald McIntosh built the first 'house' in Sale, the Bridge Inn, Sale developed as the de facto capital of Gippsland. Gippsland's only port at the time was Port Albert and there were 50 miles of rough road between the two.
There was no reliable entrance from Bass Strait into the Gippsland Lakes but a wholly local shipping industry was quickly developed, including some steamships of significant size, at a time when heavy loads were hard to move by 'road'. It was soon obvious that the wandering Flooding Creek was difficult for heavily laden steamers, so the Sale Navigation Canal was born. The steamers were important for Sale.

The canal is about five kilometres long and its building falls into three p