St Marys Market

St Marys had 738 people at the 2021 census, and once a month a decent share of them are on Main Street. The St Marys Market runs the first Saturday of each month from 9am to 1.30pm at 23 Main Street, in a Fingal Valley town that sits beneath St Patricks Head, a rocky outcrop rising 694 metres above it, about ten kilometres inland from the east coast.

Fibre, leather, jam and bric-a-brac

Discover Tasmania lists what turns up: local artisan products, fibre and leather work, local fresh produce, jams and pickles, and a range of bric-a-brac and collectables. Fibre and leather are worth calling out, because they are specific crafts rather than a generic handmade category, and they sit on the same tables as the preserves and the second-hand goods. The market trades for four and a half hours, from 9am to 1.30pm. The valley around it was granted for farming and timber-getting from the 1830s, and its population only grew from the 1850s, when gold mining began down the road at Fingal.

The town the market serves is at a road junction that explains why it exists at all.

Good to know before you go

First Saturday, 9am to 1.30pm, and there is no January exception listed, so this one runs all year. St Marys is 240 kilometres north east of Hobart and an easy detour off the run between Launceston and Bicheno or St Helens, which makes the market a natural morning stop rather than a destination in itself. Bring cash. Disabled access is available, though Discover Tasmania asks that you contact the operator for the detail. Set the alarm rather than drifting in at lunchtime, because 1.30pm on a monthly market means the good preserves and the collectables have already moved. This is palawa country.