The natural entrance to the lakes was unreliable and often dangerous. After much agitation, work began in 1872 to cut an artificial entrance, west of the natural entrance. Work on the “New Entrance” proceeded slowly and in 1876 was abandoned. Sir John Coode, renowned harbour engineer, advised on improvements but work did not resume until the early 1880s. In 1889, the new entrance was prematurely opened when a severe storm broke through the remaining sand hills. The natural entrance quickly silted up.

The holiday resort and fishing port of Lakes Entrance is situated on the eastern end of the Gippsland Lakes, just east of the artificial entrance from the lakes to the sea. The town, 330 kilometres east of Melbourne, lies on a narrow neck of land between Cunninghame Arm, formerly Reeves River, and North Arm.

The shores of the Gippsland Lakes were inhabited by the Tatungalung tribe, evidenced by middens which exist in bluffs east of the town. The Aborigines were hostile to the first pastoralists who arrived in the area in the late 1840s. The first homestead was near the natural entrance, which was east of the present town, in the vicinity of Lake Bunga.

The township of Lake Tyers Beach, Gippsland, is about 340 kilometres east of Melbourne. It is situated on the south-eastern shore of Lake Tyers, at the lake’s outlet to the sea. Lake Tyers is a submerged river valley separated from the sea by a strip of sand dunes. The outlet is usually closed by a wide sandbar, the lake occasionally breaking out following heavy rainfall.

The Krauatungalung tribe inhabited the shores of the lake, their presence evident from middens, sites for fashioning tools and scarred trees. Several locations around the lake, such as Nargun’s Cave and Devil’s Pool, hold special significance for Aborigines.

Lake Tyers was visited by Europeans in 1846 and was named after C.J. Tyers, Commissioner of Crown Lands. Soon the area was taken up as the Lake Tyers pastoral run.