Wantirna Trash & Treasure Market

Wantirna Trash & Treasure Market trades on land with a genuinely nostalgic backstory. The Wantirna Drive-In Theatre operated on this exact site from 1968 to 1984, and when the drive-in closed, the open car park found a natural second life as a secondhand market, a pattern repeated at the similarly drive-in-sited Coburg market elsewhere in Melbourne.

Trading on a former drive-in, since 1967's new idea

The market format itself has its own history worth knowing. Trash & Treasure Markets began in Melbourne in 1967 as an entirely new concept: a legal forum specifically created so secondhand goods could be sold openly, rather than through informal or unregulated channels. Wantirna's version of that format has run long enough that reviewers describe coming for twenty years straight, watching stallholders and bargains come and go across two decades of Sunday mornings.

Reviewers consistently describe genuine bargain-hunting success alongside a bit of people-watching, with the market's produce and plant stalls, including home-grown vegetables from local gardeners, drawing particular praise for quality and price.

Good to know before you go

No stallholder bookings are needed, sellers simply turn up from 7am, which means the exact stall line-up can vary noticeably from one Sunday to the next. Arriving right at opening gives buyers the best shot at first pick before the regular crowd of bargain hunters moves through.