Leongatha Community Market

Leongatha's railway yards spent decades as dead ground. The line south of the town was pulled up and turned into the Great Southern Rail Trail, and what remained at the station end sat derelict until a South Gippsland Shire redevelopment project reworked both the Leongatha and Korumburra precincts into usable community space, officially opened in November 2025. The Leongatha Community Market trades in that precinct on the third Sunday of every month, 8:30am to 1pm.

A market named for the trail it sits on

The market runs under two names, which can confuse a first-time visitor. The South Gippsland Shire directory lists it as the Leongatha Community Market; its own Facebook page trades as the Rail Trail Community Market Leongatha. Both refer to the same monthly event at the same place. The Rail Trail half of the name is literal: the Great Southern Rail Trail begins here and runs south east through dairy country toward Koonwarra and beyond.

That location gives the market a natural second audience. Cyclists and walkers using the trail start or finish at the precinct, so a market morning catches people who came to Leongatha for the ride rather than the shopping. The 8:30am start is early for a community market and suits that crowd, since it lands before the heat of a summer ride and well before the trail gets busy.

Market at a glance

3rdSunday each month

8:30amOpening time

2025Precinct reopened

4.5hTrading window

Planning a visit

Leongatha is the commercial centre of South Gippsland, roughly two hours from Melbourne by road, and the precinct sits close enough to the town centre that a market visit combines easily with the shops and cafes. Parking is available at the railway precinct itself, which is one of the practical gains from the redevelopment: the old yards had space, and the project turned that space into something usable rather than building over it.

The market is organised locally and run by volunteers, and month to month details are posted to its Facebook page. If you are timing a rail trail ride around it, the third Sunday is fixed, but checking the page before setting out is worth the minute in a region where a wet Sunday can change plans. Contact for stallholder enquiries is listed through the South Gippsland Shire community directory.