Murphys Creek Market

The Murphys Creek Market runs on the third Saturday of the month beside the Murphys Creek Tavern, 7am to 12.30pm. It is an outdoor market on a tavern site rather than in a hall or a reserve, which is a practical arrangement in a locality this small: the venue already has the parking, the amenities and a reason for people to stop.

Preserves, swags and succulents

The stall list is the genuinely miscellaneous kind that a country market does best: succulents, children's clothing, locally made preserves, sauces and chutneys, fresh produce, books, swags and bric-a-brac, with coffee and live entertainment running through the morning. Swags on a market table tell you something about the catchment, which runs out into the Lockyer Valley and the range country rather than into suburbs. Murphys Creek sits about fifteen minutes down the range from Toowoomba on the road towards Gatton, which puts the market within easy reach of a regional city without being in one.

A 7am start with a 12.30pm finish is the standard shape for a Queensland outdoor market, and on this site it means the tavern picks up the tail of the morning as the stalls pack down. The preserves are worth singling out because they are the thing a market like this does that a shop cannot: sauces and chutneys made locally in small runs, sold by the person who made them, alongside whatever fresh produce the surrounding blocks have going at the time.

Before you drive out

Third Saturday, 7am to 12.30pm. Bring cash and bags, since a market of this size will not have card facilities everywhere. There is parking at the tavern. The road down the range from Toowoomba is a pleasant fifteen minutes and the market sits just off it, which makes this an easy addition to a Lockyer Valley drive rather than a trip on its own. Coffee is on site from the start. This is Jagera, Giabal and Jarowair country.