Collie Goods Shed Markets
A fortnightly market inside an 1898 railway goods shed designed by C.Y. O'Connor, with a cafe in a restored dining carriage.
About this market
The Collie Goods Shed Markets trade every second Sunday from 8am to 1pm inside a railway goods shed that has been standing since 1898. Steam trains once pulled straight into the building to unload, and after a restoration by the Collie Heritage Group the same floor now takes market stalls on alternate Sunday mornings.
Stalls under an 1898 roof
The stall list is the broad country mix: fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs and preserves, candles and soaps, books, jewellery, children's toys and clothes, and a good deal more besides. What lifts it above an ordinary hall market is the setting and what sits around it. The Coach Cafe operates out of a restored dining carriage, serving Devonshire teas, espresso, toasties and cakes on market mornings. Next door, the Bill Weir Rolling Stock Shed holds wagons being restored by Collie Heritage Group volunteers, and both sheds form part of the town's Working Life Trail, opening on market days and for limited hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Collie sits inland from Bunbury in the south west, a coal and timber town whose history is the reason all this rolling stock is here in the first place.
Market at a glance
Trading indoors under a heritage roof means the market keeps the same shape through a south west winter, which is more than most fortnightly country markets can say.
The building was designed by Charles Yelverton O'Connor, the engineer better known for the Fremantle harbour works and the pipeline that carries water from Mundaring Weir to Kalgoorlie. The Goods Shed went up in 1898 and became the working heart of the town, with steam trains running right inside to unload their cargo. It had fallen out of use before the Collie Heritage Group restored it, and the volunteers who did that work are the same ones restoring the wagons in the shed next door.
Worth knowing before you go
Every second Sunday, 8am to 1pm, so confirm which Sunday before driving out: this is a fortnightly market, not a monthly or weekly one. Forrest Street is central and parking is around the sheds. Bring cash and bags. Collie is roughly an hour inland from Bunbury and about two from Perth, so the market works best as part of a day that also takes in the Working Life Trail, the river or the nearby dams. This is Wilman Noongar country.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When are the Goods Shed Markets on?
- Every second Sunday from 8am to 1pm, in the Goods Shed on Forrest Street, Collie.
- What can I buy?
- Fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs, preserves, candles, soaps, books, jewellery, children's toys and clothes, among a good deal else.
- Is there anywhere to eat?
- Yes. The Coach Cafe, set up in a restored railway dining carriage, opens on market mornings with Devonshire teas, espresso coffee, toasties and cakes.