1798 - Matthew Flinders and Bass discover and name Wilson's Promontory, Bass Strait and WesternPort Bay
1826 - Capt William Hovell finds coal at Cape Paterson and Harmer's Haven, this coal was used by Samuel Anderson when he settled on Westernport in 1830, and small mining operations followed in 1840
1840 - Samuel Anderson discovers Andersons Inlet and a “big river” at Inverloch, which was soon surveyed by Thomas Scott Townsend and then the Smythe brothers who surveyed the coast and inland from Cape Paterson to Cape Liptrap.
1840 - Gippsland explorers, Paul Strzelecki and Angus McMillan, pass through the Sale region on his gruelling exploratory trek from Omeo to the Old Port north of Port Albert
1841 - 1st settlers in Port Albert which became the main port and administrative centre for Gippsland, an important cargo port for Melbourne and Van Dieman's Land and thrived during the gold rush being the main port for access to the Dargo gold fields region, but the introduction of the railway greatly adversely impacted the port's importance which would result in a decline of the town from the 1880's.
1842-43: Thomas Nutt surveys land including Wilsons Prom where Runs of 14,700 acres at Sealers Cove, 25,000 acres at Mount Singapore, 25,000 acres at Corner Inlet (including some of Yanakie Isthmus), 33,000 acres at Oberon Bay and 4,000 acres at the Darby River were surveyed while 22,000 acres at the southern end of the Promontory was reserved and excluded from grazing and selection
1) 1844 - 1st settler in Sale arrived - Archibald McIntosh who established his 'Flooding Creek' property and by the end of the year there were at least 40 land holdings in Gippsland carrying about 20,000 head of cattle and 62,000 sheep and by 1845, this had increased to 100 holdings, carrying between them 30,000 cattle and 100,000 sheep
1848-49: G.D Smythe of Alberton, the contract surveyor carried out a coast survey of Wilsons Prom from Corner Inlet to Cape Wellington and in 1849 he took out an annual grazing license for 19,200 acres on Waratah Bay - a holding which in 1950, he claimed as the Cape Liptrap Run
1850: Colony of Victoria becomes official
1850: Richard Bennison occupied the 16,640 acre Yanakie Run at Wilson Prom
1850. 1st town plots sold in Sale which was gazetted and named Sale in 1851 and soon benefited from the 1850's gold rush to Omeo
1852, a workable coal seam was discovered in Wonthaggi and the Victorian Coal Company was established but the mine was soon closed due to transport difficulties
1855: Government of Colony of Victoria is formed
1859: lighthouse built on tip of Wilsons Prom
1860: passing of the first Land Settlement Act began a long process of settlement under altered terms of tenure and acquisition resulting in the big holdings disappearing
1863 - the Amazon was shiprecked near Harmers Haven at a location now called Wreck Beach
1865, the 1st reasonable road from Melbourne to Sale was created, and Cobb and Co established a rough-and-ready 24-hour coach service linking Melbourne and Sale
1865: Wilsons Prom was thrown open for land selection
1870 - Land Act of 1869 paved the way for land selection in the Inverloch region and a large part of the town was built on subdivisions taken up in 1874 and 1883.
1878 - children's book author, Mary Grant Bruce born in Sale
1879 - railway station built in Sale leading to development of a port in Sale to access the Gippsland Lakes
1887 - HM Prison Sale built in Sale and operated for 110yrs
1890's: coal mines opening in Korumburra, Outrim and Jumbunna saw the beginning of Inverloch developing as a seaside holiday resort
1901 - the Artisan was wrecked at Wreck Beach
1905: Govt permanently reserves from sale 75,000 acres of Wilsons Prom, and in 1907, added a further 26,000 acres
1909 - the State Coal Mine at Powlett Coalfields opened after a miners' strike in NSW starved Victoria's railway and coal industries. The coal was taken to Inverloch by bullock teams then shipped to Melbourne. Initially a temporary tent town it soon was established as Wonthaggi and a reservoir was built. The Nyora-Wonthaggi railway was extended 22km to Wonthaggi and built in just 10 weeks with the 1st steam train arriving in 1910. Much of the town was burnt down in a fire in 1911. A Queen Anne style railway station was built in 1912. In 1915, the State Coal Mine was the 1st mine in the Southern Hemisphere to be electrified, and the Wonthaggi Hotel opened. Rail cars were introduced in 1951 and the last passenger steam train ran in 1961 while the last goods steam train ran in 1965. The State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi closed in 1968 (re-opened as a tourist attraction in 1982) and the railway de-commissioned in 1977.
1991: Bunurong Marine Park established to protect the flora and fauna and 100 years after the 1st dinosaur bone was discovered, annual university digs for dinosaur fossils at The Caves begin.