Australia’s top 10 farmers markets worth a visit

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Visiting the local farmers’ market has become the cornerstone of a foodie’s weekend (and a nicer way to get your groceries than the supermarket). Stock up your pantry at these top 10 outings.

1. Adelaide Farmers’ Market Adelaide, SA

Marketplace details:

Adelaide Farmer's Markets.
A glimpse into Adelaide Farmer’s Markets.

Held outdoors at Adelaide Showground every Sunday from 9am – 1pm.

Market fact:

 

Each week cooking demonstrations are held inside the Market Kitchen at Adelaide Farmer’s Markets , using local produce to create mouth-watering dishes. You may recognise some of the faces from MKR and MasterChef.

Market special:

 

Ice-cream in flavours such as lemon myrtle, native mint, lilly pilly and wild ginger from Bushtucker Ice-cream.

 

2. Collingwood Children’s Farm/Melbourne Farmers’ Markets, Abbotsford, VIC

Marketplace details:

Melbourne Farmer's Market at Collingwood Children's Farm.
Delicious raclette cheese available at Melbourne Farmer’s Market at Collingwood Children’s Farm.

Melbourne Farmers’ Markets is held outdoors at Collingwood Children’s Farm on the second Saturday of each month, 8am – 1pm. There’s a $2 entry fee per adult (children are free), which supports projects at the farm. The kids will love getting to know the farm animals.

Market fact:

 

It’s completely plastic bag-free here, so don’t forget your canvas shopping totes.

Market special:

 

The pancake stall is run by volunteers and all funds raised support the Young Farmers program. Tuck in for a feel-good breakfast.

 

3. Eveleigh Market, Eveleigh, NSW

Mushrooms Eveleigh Markets.
Mushroom out from beneath the shade: Eveleigh Markets, Sydney.

Marketplace details: Undercover at Carriageworks, every Saturday (rain, hail or shine), 8am – 1pm.

 

Market fact: Eveleigh Market features well-known Sydney eateries Bourke Street Bakery, Sonomo and Billy Kwong have stands here – you may even see Miss Kylie Kwong herself serving up steamed pork buns!

 

Market special: Honey pollinated around the city from The Rocks to Marrickville at The Urban Beehive.

 

4. Farmgate Market, Hobart, TAS

Marketplace details: Outdoors at Bathurst Street every Sunday (rain, hail or shine) from 8:30am – 1pm.

Farmgate Market in Hobart, Tasmania.
People perusing Farmgate Market in Hobart, Tasmania.

Market fact: At Farmgate Market , everything sold must be grown or produced in Tasmania and only the people who grow, raise, produce, extract or pluck the goods can trade.

 

Market special: Sourdough donuts filled with apple and cardamom jam or dark choc and salty pistachio.

 

5. Noosa Farmers’ Market, Noosa, QLD

Marketplace details: Outdoors at Noosa Australian Football Club every Sunday (rain, hail or shine), 7am – 12pm.

Noosa Farmer's Markets.
Fresh produce from Noosa Farmer’s Markets.

Market fact: Noosa Farmers’ Market organisers are also behind the Noosa Food ETrail – a website showcasing a behind-the-scenes-style exploration of the local food region through fruit picking, farm tours, cooking schools. Plus markets and farm gates.

 

Market special: Handmade quality olive oils, olive tapenade and fresh olives from Fat Hen Farm.

 

6. Capital Region Farmers’ Market Canberra, ACT

Marketplace details: Undercover at Exhibition Park, most Saturdays from 7:30–11:30am.

Canberra Farmers Markets?
Why not pick up a gooey brownie from stallholder, The Hungry Brown Cow at Capital Region Farmers’ Market Canberra?

Market fact: At Capital Region Farmers Market , the majority of produce at the market (excluding some specialty products) comes from less than 300 kilometres away. The distance travelled by each stallholder is listed on the market website.

 

Market special: The pâtés of Fine Terrines & Pâtés come in all sorts of flavours from free-range chicken to Porcini and port – but if those don’t tickle your fancy, they’ll try to make one especially for you.

 

7. Talbot Farmers’ Markets, Talbot, VIC

Marketplace details: Talbot Farmers’ Market is held outdoors at Scandinavian Crescent on the third Sunday of each month, from 9am – 1pm.

Talbot Markets in Victoria.
Browse vintage finds at Talbot Markets in Victoria.

Market fact: The Town Hall Market is held on the same day just adjacent to the farmers’ market – it sells books, toys, crafts, clothing and more.

 

Market special: The award-winning Cooks Treat Ripper Relish and BBQue Brew (both gluten free, too!).

 

8. Margaret River Farmers’ Markets Margaret River, WA

Marketplace details: This market is held at the Margaret River Education Campus on the third Sunday of every month, from 9am – 1pm.

Margaret River Farmer's Market.
Pick up a treat at Margaret River Farmer’s Market.

Market fact: Stalls at Margaret River Farmers’ Market are given priority based on how ‘local’ the produce is: if it’s made by farmers within the Margaret River Region with their own produce, it takes priority over residents of the Margaret River Region using local produce and those who use products from outside of the area and so on.

 

Market special: Bahen & Co’s factory is not open to the public, so get your hands on the artisan chocolate handmade using cacao beans and raw sugar.

 

9. Barossa Farmers’ Markets Barossa Valley, SA

Marketplace details: Barossa Farmers’ Markets is held undercover in the Vinters Sheds, Angaston, every Saturday from 7:30–11:30am.

Barossa Valley Farmer's Markets.
Barossa Distilling Company flavouring the farmer’s markets.

Market fact: The farmers travel an average of just 15 kilometres to get here, so you know all the produce is local and super fresh.

 

Market special: Fill up for breakfast on the delicious egg and bacon Market Burger.

 

10. Gold Coast Organic Market, Miami, QLD

Marketplace details: Outdoors at Miami High State School every Sunday, 6–11:30am.

Gold Coast Organic Market.
Delicious freshly made Organic Vegan Museli, Bowls from Gold Coast Organic Market.

Market fact: All produce at Gold Coast Organic Market must be straight from the farm and Certified Organically grown. But it’s not just the food that’s organic, there are also cleaning products, cosmetics, clothing and bedding.

 

Market special: The fermented beverages from Buchi Kombucha, made from organic white, black or green teas (or a blend), organic raw sugar, and a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, are meant to be ‘ridiculously good for you’. To sweeten the deal, they come in a variety of flavours including Ginger and Tumeric, Coffee, and Hibiscus Galangal Lime.

 

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This luxe trawler tour is redefining Victoria’s seafood experience

    Chloe CannBy Chloe Cann
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    Victoria’s ‘mussel capital’ is the source of exceptional shellfish used by top chefs far and wide. Step aboard a beautifully refurbished trawler to see how these plump and juicy bivalves are sustainably cultivated.

    A curtain is slowly winched from the placid, teal waters just off Portarlington , like a floating garland beside our boat. The ropes heave with blue mussels, the star attraction of our tour. But as we reach to pluck our own, it’s quickly clear they’re not alone; a mass of weird and wonderful creatures has colonised the ropes, turning them into a living tapestry. ‘Fairy’ oysters, jelly-like sea squirts, and tiny, wriggling skeleton shrimp all inhabit this underwater ecosystem.

    We prize our bivalve bounty from the ropes, and minutes later the mussels arrive split on a platter. The plump orange morsels are served raw, ready to be spritzed with wedges of lemon and a lick of chilli as we gaze out over the bay. They’re briny, tender and faintly sweet. “This wasn’t originally part of the tour,” explains Connie Trathen, who doubles as the boat’s cook, deckhand and guide. “But a chef [who came onboard] wanted to taste the mussels raw first, and it’s now become one of the key features.”

    A humble trawler turned Hamptons-style dreamboat

    inspecting bivalve bounty from the ropes
    Inspecting the bounty. (Image: Visit Victoria/Hannyn Shiggins)

    It’s a crisp, calm winter’s day, and the sun is pouring down upon Valerie, a restored Huon pine workhorse that was first launched in January 1980. In a previous life she trawled the turbulent Bass Strait. These days she takes jaunts into Port Phillip Bay under the helm of Lance Wiffen, a fourth-generation Bellarine farmer, and the owner of Portarlington Mussel Tours . While Lance has been involved in the fishing industry for 30-plus years, the company’s tour boat only debuted in 2023.

    holding Portarlington mussels
    See how these plump and juicy bivalves are sustainably cultivated.

    It took more than three years to transform the former shark trawler into a dreamy, Hamptons-esque vessel, with little expense spared. Think muted green suede banquettes, white-washed walls, Breton-striped bench cushions, hardwood tables, bouquets of homegrown dahlias, and woollen blankets sourced from Waverley Mills, Australia’s oldest working textile mill. It’s intimate, too, welcoming 12 guests at most. And yet there’s nothing pretentious about the experience – just warm, down-to-earth Aussie hospitality.

    As we cruise out, we crack open a bottle of local bubbles and nibble on the most beautifully curated cheese platter, adorned with seashells and grey saltbush picked from the water’s edge that very morning. Australasian gannets soar overhead, and I’m told it’s not uncommon for guests to spot the odd seal, pod of dolphins, or even the occasional little penguin.

    The sustainable secret behind Victoria’s best mussels

    blue mussels off Portarlington
    Blue mussels sourced just off Portarlington.

    Connie and Lance both extol the virtues of mussels. They’re delicious. A lean source of protein and packed with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, iron, selenium, and zinc. They’re cooked in a flash (Connie steams our fresh harvest with cider and onion jam). And they’re also widely regarded as one of the most sustainable foods in the world.

    Portarlington mussels with lemon and chilli
    Mussels served with lemon and chilli.

    “Aquaculture is [often] seen as destructive, so a lot of our guests are really surprised about how environmentally friendly and sustainable our industry is,” Lance says. “[Our mussels] would filter 1.4 billion litres of water a day,” he adds, explaining how mussels remove excess nitrogen and phosphorus from the water. “And through biomineralisation, we lock carbon into mussel shells.”

    a hand holding a Portarlington mussel
    Mussels are a sustainable food.

    Despite their glowing list of accolades, these molluscs have long been seen as the oysters’ poorer cousins. “It was a really slow start,” explains Lance, who says that in the early days of his career, “you could not sell mussels in Victoria”.

    But word has slowly caught on. Chefs as globally acclaimed as Attica’s Ben Shewry and even René Redzepi of Noma, Denmark, have travelled to these very waters just to try the shellfish at the source, sharing only the highest praise, and using Lance’s mussels in their restaurants.

    guests sampling Portarlington mussels onboard
    Sampling the goods onboard. (Image: Visit Victoria/Hannyn Shiggins)

    According to Lance there’s one obvious reason why the cool depths of Portarlington outshine other locations for mussel farming. “The water quality is second to none,” he says, noting how other regions are frequently rocked by harvest closures due to poor water quality. “We grow, without a doubt, some of the best shellfish in the world.” And with Lance’s bold claims backed up by some of the industry’s greatest names, perhaps it won’t be much longer until more Aussies uncover the appeal of Portarlington’s mussels.