Clunes Farmers' Market - 2nd Sunday of the Month
A monthly produce and makers market held along the goldfields streetscape that has doubled as a film set for Mad Max and Ned Kelly.
About this market
Clunes was Victoria's first gold town. In July 1851 James Esmond, back from the Californian goldfields, took samples from quartz at Clunes and carried the news to Geelong, and the rush that followed built the wide street of 19th-century shopfronts the market now sets up along. Fraser Street survived the century that followed largely intact, which is why the Clunes Farmers and Makers Market has one of the better backdrops in regional Victoria on the second Sunday of every month.
Growers and makers on the same street
The market runs 9am to 1pm and mixes two things that often get separated. On the produce side there is seasonal fruit and veg, organic meat, cheese, honey, preserves, bread and coffee, plus plants, bulbs and the odd bag of hay. On the maker side there are artists and craftspeople based in and around Clunes. New stallholders join most months, so the line-up shifts rather than settling into the same faces, and takings go back into the community rather than to a commercial operator.
Market at a glance
Clunes is a small town that has learned to trade on what it kept. It is the first accredited Booktown in the Southern Hemisphere, and its main street is unusually complete for a goldfields settlement, with original store fronts and verandahs still in place. A market day is the one Sunday a month when that streetscape is used as it was designed to be used, with people standing in the middle of the road talking rather than driving through it.
Fraser Street has stood in for other eras on screen more than once. Its 19th-century shopfronts have been used as a location for films including Mad Max and Ned Kelly, which is a fair indication of how little the streetscape has been altered.
Good to know before you go
Check the calendar rather than the weather: this is a second-Sunday market, so a wet first Sunday means nothing. Four hours is a short window for a town an hour from Ballarat and 90 minutes from Melbourne, and the produce stalls thin out towards the end, so arriving closer to 9am than to 1pm is the safer plan. Dogs are welcome and families are catered for. Park in a side street and walk in, since Fraser Street itself is where the stalls go. If you are coming from further afield, the bookshops and cafes in town make the trip worth more than the four market hours alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is the Clunes Farmers and Makers Market on?
- The second Sunday of every month, 9am to 1pm, along Fraser Street in Clunes.
- Does it cost anything to visit?
- No. Entry is free, and the market is family and dog friendly.
- What can I buy there?
- Seasonal fruit and vegetables, organic meat, cheese, honey, coffee, baked goods and wine from regional growers, alongside plants, bulbs and work by local artists and makers.