Swing Bridge

Located on the South Gippsland Highway, 5km south of Sale, the Swing Bridge spans the Latrobe River at its junction with the Thomson River. There are two ways to see the Bridge - by road, or take a boat. The boat, in case you didn’t know, is the good ship Rubeena, whose twice-daily journey to the Swing Bridge and back is a highlight worth seeking out.

The Swing Bridge design was the result of a competition won by prominent engineer and architect John Grainger. Built in 1883, it was the first movable bridge built in Victoria. It is the oldest surviving swing bridge in Australia.

The ingenuity of his design allowed a single-handed operation to open the river - up to 25 times a day - to steamer traffic moving between Sale and Melbourne via the Sale Canal and its access to the lakes and open sea. An operating inland port was of huge benefit to Gippsland and the entire state in the years before established railways and, let our network of highways.

Since its restoration in late 2003, it has become a popular tourist spot, and has even been used at a set for the filming of the 2008 film The Tender Hook, starring Hugo Weaving and Rose Byrne.