Coronet Bay Market
A third-Sunday market on a Western Port reserve named after the man whose door-to-door bric-a-brac collections paid for the hall it runs beside.
About this market
The reserve this market runs on is named after Frederick Kirk Gration, who co-founded the Coronet Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association on 20 January 1987 and then set about raising the money for everything the small Western Port township lacked. The market fills his 6.09-hectare reserve and the hall beside it on the third Sunday of every month, 9am to 2pm.
Inside the hall and out on the grass
The dual venue is the practical detail worth knowing. Stalls run both inside the Coronet Bay Hall and outdoors across the reserve, which is why this is a year-round market on an exposed stretch of coast rather than a summer-only one. The mix is closer to a country trash and treasure than a farmers market: craft both new and used, bric-a-brac, vintage homewares, plants, kids toys, animal supplies and jewellery, with cakes, slices and hot and cold drinks to keep people circulating. The reserve itself carries a hall, a BMX track, a community garden, a basketball court, a playspace and a walking path, so a market morning here comes with somewhere for children to go. The residents association built all of that the slow way, through memberships, raffles, stalls and donations.
Market at a glance
The name on the reserve gate is not ceremonial. It belongs to a specific fundraising method.
Fred Gration built the town's public buildings out of other people's cast-offs. He knocked on doors asking for unwanted furniture and bric-a-brac, stored it on his farm and sold it at Trash 'n Treasure sales, and the proceeds, alongside bottle and paper collections, paid for the foreshore toilet block and the hall. The council would not consider the hall viable until the association raised $20,000 of its own, and it did. The community association says the sale continues to this day with the Gration family still involved.
Good to know before you go
Third Sunday, 9am to 2pm, and the five-hour window is longer than most country markets run, so a late arrival still works here. Bring cash. The site is at 39A Gellibrand Street with parking around the reserve, and because part of the market is indoors the weather matters less than the drive does. Coronet Bay sits on Western Port between Grantville and San Remo, so it pairs easily with a Phillip Island trip or with the Grantville market on the first Sunday of the month. This is Bunurong country.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is the Coronet Bay Market held?
- The third Sunday of the month, 9am to 2pm, at the Coronet Bay Hall and Fred Gration Reserve, 39A Gellibrand Street.
- Is the market indoors or outdoors?
- Both. There are stalls inside the hall and outside on the reserve, so it runs year round rather than only in the warm months.
- What is sold there?
- New and used craft, bric-a-brac, vintage homewares, plants, kids toys, animal supplies and jewellery, with cakes, slices and hot and cold drinks on site.