Gin Gin Wild Scotchman Country Markets
A weekly Saturday morning market held among the relocated railway buildings and slab huts of Gin Gin's historical village, named after the bushranger caught nearby.
About this market
The Gin Gin and District Historical Society occupies seven acres of former Queensland Rail land on the site of the old Gin Gin Railway Station, and every Saturday morning it fills with market stalls. Trading runs 7am to 11am, early enough to beat the heat and short enough that the whole thing feels like one long breakfast.
A market inside a museum
The village the market sits in is the draw as much as the stalls are. The society preserved the station buildings, the signage, a length of rail line and a couple of carriages, and added original slab huts, a steam locomotive known as the Bunyip and the former headmaster's residence, which is now the society's office. Stallholders set up among all of it.
What they sell is genuinely local: jams, chutneys, sauces, pickles, preserves and baked goods, craft including woodwork, crocheting and knitting, and fresh fruit and vegetables alongside herbs, plants and flowers. The society's barbecue breakfast runs through the morning, and between site fees and that barbecue, the Saturday market is the main thing funding the village's upkeep.
Market at a glance
The name comes from James Alpin McPherson, born 1842, who held up mail coaches around Maryborough, Gayndah and Gladstone across a short bushranging career from 1864 to 1866. He was caught on 30 March 1866 near Monduran Station just outside Gin Gin, and not by police: station workers ran him down. He surrendered without a fight, telling them he had worked out they were not troopers by the pace at which they followed him.
After one mail robbery in 1866, McPherson posted £1700 worth of cheques and money orders back to the Governor of Queensland, with a note explaining he had no use for them. Gin Gin still marks the connection with an annual Wild Scotsman Festival each March.
Before you go
Get there early. A 7am to 11am market in central Queensland effectively means the best of the produce and the baked goods has moved by nine, and the barbecue breakfast is at its busiest first thing. Bring cash: this is a small volunteer-run country market, not a card-terminal operation, and small notes make life easier for the stallholders. Allow extra time after you have shopped to walk the historical village itself, since you are already inside it.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When are the Wild Scotchman Country Markets held?
- Every Saturday morning from 7am to 11am, in the grounds of the Gin Gin historical village at 85 Mulgrave Street.
- Who was the Wild Scotchman?
- James Alpin McPherson, a bushranger who robbed mail coaches in the 1860s and was captured near Monduran Station outside Gin Gin in March 1866.
- Can you get breakfast there?
- Yes. The Gin Gin and District Historical Society runs a barbecue breakfast alongside the stalls, and it is one of the society's two main sources of income.