MICHAEL MANGOLD

Eumundi Markets text and photographs by Michael Mangold 

National Library of Australia 
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry 

Mangold, Michael
Eumundi Markets
ISBN 0 646 06717 6

I took these photographs on market days between 1990 and 1991. Collectively they capture a few minutes in the life of the markets which has been open every Saturday of the year since March 1979.

You can read detailed captions to all photographs here →

Preface

The origins of the word Eumundi are clouded by the loss of the Kabi tribe of Aborigines who inhabited the area when white people came to cut timber and settle in the early 1870s. The most plausible derivation is generally considered to be a Kabi tribesman’s name - Houmundi. 

By the 1970s the lush rainforest which onced cloaked the Eumundi area had mostly been turned into rolling hills of farmland. At that time hippies, artisans, craftsmen and women, and people disenchanted with cities and suburbia were attracted to the area by its openness and the promise of a more simple way of life.

Eumundi entered a new tribal phase. The Eumundi Markets are the expression of a very strong need for community. Its crafts have become the artefacts of a culture that identifies the town. They also provide a link, however tenuous, with the original inhabitants who relied so much on a rapport with the land and the skill of their hands. The organically grown fruit and vegetables sold at the markets are in part the result of a rediscovery of earlier traditions of farming introduced to the area by white settlers.

The most often mentioned benefit of the markets apart from income is the social contact between everyone who goes. The stallholders who sell their wares are not shopkeepers. In many ways they are indistinguishable from the customers on the other side of the stalls who visit them. Except the stallholders have taken the huge step of staking their survival on what they can gather, make, and sell with their own hands. It is little wonder then that at the Eumundi Markets there is so much discussion and conversation.

I hope this book adds to everyone's enjoyment and memories of the Eumundi Markets.

Page 4

On my first trip to Noosa more than 10 years ago the Eumundi Markets were one of my first ports of call. At that time - May 1980, the Eumundi Markets were already through their first year and full of the energy, freshness and friendliness that characterise it today.

The CWA (Country Women's Association) Hall - where coffee, tea, fruit juices and exotic food are served to a room full of endlessly changing people - was there and so of course were the magnificent Moreton Bay fig trees. The Museum was added later with funds from fees charged to stallholders - the stallholders who sell their wares.

The Museum building was a cane-cutter’s cottage transported approximately 10 kilometres to its present site from near Yandina at the expense of what was then the Eumundi Historical Society and is now the Eumundi Historical Association Inc. The origins of the Historical Society pre-date the Eumundi Markets by six years. The conception, birth, and identity of the markets are inextricably linked with the Historical Association.

It was Christa Barton and Gail Perry-Somers who sat on the steps of a store on the western side of Memorial Drive - Eumundi's main street, early in 1979 and in the solitude created by the diversion of the Bruce Highway around the town, they decided Eumundi was to have a market. Their inspiration came from a visit to the community market at Kin Kin in the old butter factory which has since burned down.

At that time Gail and her family had a farm at Eumundi called Kiah. In the true spirit of the seventies Kiah was an open house with extra accommodation provided in cabins on the property. It was at Kiah, and in Christa’s house behind the Eumundi Post Office, that many of the organisational meetings to set up a market were held.

Christa and Gail saw the potential of the CWA Hall as a venue for market activities. They became members of the CWA and presented the idea of a markets as a community activity that would bring people of the area together while having a financial benefit for the Association and helping the unemployed. It was not long before Gail's household was filled with unemployed youth making quiches and cakes for sale in the first months of the Eumundi Markets.

The kitchen in the CWA Hall was the heart of the markets when it first started. In those days community markets were new to Australia and stallholders gravitated to the CWA Hall as a place where they could find a cup of tea or coffee and their courage. 

It was also a place where the unemployed were motivated to develop skills in handicrafts and food preparation for personal satisfaction and as a source of income.

Page 5

The CWA Hall’s place in the history of Eumundi is assured but the real chromosomal link which gave the markets its personality and character was between Christa Barton, Gail Perry- Somers and the Eumundi Historical Society as it was then. Alex Gillespie was the instigator of the Society and among its founding members was Valmay Templeton who was the Chairman of the Society at the time Christa and Gail began the quest for a markets at Eumundi.

Valmay Templeton’s husband Allan who was a Maroochy Shire Councillor was also a founding member of the Historical Society, as was Oswald ‘Ossie’ Jefferies who was Treasurer for the first 17 years of the Society's existence. The Eumundi Historical Society became the community umbrella under which Christa Barton and Gail Perry-Somers set up the Eumundi Markets. And so one Saturday morning in March 1979 at junction between old and new settlers at Eumundi was formed just in front of what now remains of the old railway line and platform.

In the early days everyone visiting the markets seemed to buy equal portions of fruit, vegetables, arts, and crafts. Now the Eumundi Markets experiences two distinct waves of customers - the locals from surrounding areas including restaurateurs who descend almost as soon as the stallholders begin trading sometime after 5:30 am each Saturday. And the tourists who generally rise much later and arrive at the markets around 10 a.m.

The locals and restaurateurs come for the home-grown fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs. Much of this food is organically grown and in such demand that the customers help the stallholders unload in the dark. Flashlights hover and dart like fireflies and single globes on the ends of long electric cords glow softly in anticipation of daylight.

The tourists come for the arts and crafts which more often than not are made by the people who sell them. It is the connection between the maker, the goods, the seller, and the customer that creates the fascinating mix of Eumundi Markets.

But there is nothing sanctimonious about the way the markets are run. The co-founders of Eumundi Markets - Christa Barton and Gail Perry-Somers are practical people. They set a standard of quality for goods sold at the markets that continues to have a major role in the market’s success - no junk.

The present Conveners of the Eumundi Markets - Manager George Howie and his Deputy Peter Miller have a much more complex task with 200 stalls to administer. Nevertheless they rely on the same principles of quality with which the markets was started. Each Saturday they patrol and cajole a human maze of stallholders to make sure that the stallholders and customers are kept happy and that the markets continues to thrive.

Funds raised from site fees collected each Saturday from stallholders go directly to the Eumundi Historical Association where they are managed for the benefit of the Markets, the Museum, the School of Arts, and community projects including the local school, tennis club, fire brigade, and individuals in need of support to attend sporting competitions or cultural exchanges. All funds are administered by office bearers and committee members of the day under the constitution of the Historical Association.

Page 6

The markets stretch almost the length of the eastern side of Memorial Drive, Eumundi’s main street. On market day the parking restrictions on that side of the street begin at 4 am. The stalls spread from the edge of the footpath and down towards an area around the old trainline where there is a huge car park for stallholders and customers.

The progress of the markets since it began more than 10 years ago has been phenomenal and what is most amazing is the fact that the markets has maintained its character. And even the staunchest critics of the way in which the markets dominate Eumundi on Saturday mornings concede that it has been good for the town.

Eumundi has been featured in Qantas brochures as a place to visit on the Sunshine Coast. Overseas and interstate visitors account for up to seventy-five percent of at least one stallholder’s business. And on the western side of Eumundi’s main street in the early hours of Saturday mornings new stallholders seeking a place in the markets on a casual basis, wait patiently on the footpath below a little church. 

Permanent stallholders busily assemble their wares and other stallholders holding stalls on a permanent-casual basis do the same. Meanwhile the waiting continues on the other side of the road until Convener George Howie has a clear picture of which places if any remain to be filled. Permanent stallholders are entitled to give their site over for George to fill for up to eight weeks without losing their status.

A ceiling of two hundred permanent stallholder sites at the markets has been designated by Maroochy Shire Council. Permanent-casual stallholders seeking a permanent site must wait for resignations. In the meantime they are assigned any sites vacated temporarily by permanent stallholders. Permanent sites at the markets cannot be bought or sold.

Permanent stallholders come from within the Eumundi area and each year they sign a set of conditions relating to the type and quality of goods they agree to sell and how they conduct themselves towards customers and other stallholders. The markets are intricately woven into the fabric of the Eumundi community and its identity.

The conditions for stallholders were already a tradition when Mary-Helen McMaster who was not a stallholder became Convener in 1982 after Jenny Wagner's period as a Convener with Christa Barton. Gail Perry-Somers had left the markets about two years after starting them and being Convener with Christa. Mary-Helen was sole Convener for the first eighteen months of her seven years. After that after that she had help from several people including four years from Wayne Schrader a stallholder and son-in-law of former Historical Association Treasurer Oswald Jefferies.

The rigours of working late into the night at the sugar mill at Nambour and the demands of a young family finally made the prospect of keeping a regular 5 am appointment with the markets completely unattractive for Wayne Schrader, although he has since returned as a stallholder. During her seven years as Convener Mary-Helen McMaster formalised the conditions stallholders agree to operate under. In this period of consolidation as well as growth Mary -Helen estimates the markets more than doubled in size.

The destiny of the Eumundi Markets has also been governed by local and state authorities from the outset. The Commissioner of Queensland Railways travelled to Eumundi to inspect the site the markets himself before approving the use of railway land. Maroochy Council has always been intimately involved in both community and town planning aspects of the markets. The Council’s Health Department sets standards it continues to monitor the preparation, packaging and vending of food at the markets.

Page 7

And at a community level the Council affirmed permanent stallholders were to be drawn from Shire residents and that the emphasis was to be on local produce and crafts to the exclusion of commercial products especially those available in the town’s stores.

George Howie took on the role of Convener in 1989 (after Mary-Helen McMaster) assisted by Peter Miller. It is interesting to note that Christa Barton still maintains her connections with the markets - most recently turning her hand to glazing pottery to produce the distinctive plates, bowls and dishes which she sells from her stall at the markets.

Jenny Wagner now a well-known author, particularly of children's books, also maintains a stall at the markets where she often signs her books for market customers. Jenny's husband Joe has also become an indelible part of the markets pattern as it unfolds every Saturday of the year - rain, hail or shine.

In his time is Convener George Howie recalls a Saturday where one hundred and seventy stallholders braved torrential rain and wind rather than break the market’s tradition of continuity. George Howie and his wife Meg were among the first handful of stallholders when the markets began. There are many other permanent and permanent-casual stallholders whose names and faces are synonymous with the beginning of the markets. Some, such as organic herb grower Lindy Emmett, have built considerable reputations for the specialised goods and produce they have been providing since the markets started.

When the markets finally close at 12:30 pm each Saturday afternoon the town’s two hotels become decompression chambers for many of the stallholders. Frayed nerves are soothed by Queensland Fourex (XXXX), Powers and Eumundi brand beers at Joe's Waterhole almost directly opposite the markets and the Imperial Hotel (now famous as the home of Eumundi Brewery) a little further down the road.

For many stallholders the prospect of producing their own craft and displaying it for sale in public is challenge enough, never mind the preparation for a pre-dawn trip and the task of assembling a stall in the dark. Even so two hundred permanent and permanent-casual stallholders willingly undertake the task and always a dozen or more contenders for stalls on a casual basis wait patiently for their chance.

It is a sense of shared achievement and mutual support between the stallholders themselves and between them and their customers which make the Eumundi Markets resonate. Visitors - locals and tourists, endlessly circle the stalls buying, talking, and soaking up a vibration that started in the seventies.

CAPTIONS

Fifteen minute parking

Fifteen minute parking in loading zone signs become law from 4 am on Saturday mornings. The main parking area for the markets is below the markets on the eastern side near the old railway line. Visitors also park further along Memorial Drive, Eumundi’s main street, or in one of its side streets.

Tourist coaches and courtesy buses from hotels and backpacker hostels also bring visitors to the markets.

Page 8 – CWA Hall early morning

Convener George Howie and his wife Meg begin setting up their family stall at the front entrance of the CWA Hall in the early hours of Saturday morning. Jenny Tribe who has a food stall inside, is on the far right.

Page 9 – Jenny and Joe

Jenny Tribe and Joe Wagner inside the CWA Hall. Both of them are dedicated and long time stallholders as a closer look at the time on the wall clock above them will confirm - twenty minutes past 5 in the morning.

At that time the preparation of food in the CWA Hall is already well underway and a little over two hours later the emptiness around Jenny and Joe will be packed with the market’s earliest customers and a solid group of hungry stallholders lining up for breakfast.

Jenny has had a stall at the markets since the year it began and the daughter who now helps her was conceived around the same time. The Eumundi Markets are almost literally in her daughter Camilla’s blood. In fact long time stallholders at the markets still call Camilla ‘Market Baby’.

Jenny’s food stall is inside the food hall and immediately to the right of the front door.

Page 10 – Andrew

In the pre-dawn of market day morning Andrew prepares the groundwork for the Hermitage Foundation’s stall with meticulous care. The Hermitage Foundation embraces a dynasty of craftsmen and women, and stallholders with a heritage stretching back to the very first community markets held in Queensland in the early 1970s.

The stated values of the Foundation are as solid and polished as the Hermitage Country Crafts furniture and decorative pieces it makes from Australian native timbers.

The Hermitage Country Crafts store is in the southern section of the markets on one of the terraces lower down on the eastern side towards the main carpark.

Andrew’s mother Philippa who is also part of the Hermitage Foundation group is featured on page 24.

Page 11 – Marama and Amber (left to right)

Marama and Amber are the daughters of Christina who sells oils, oil burners, perfumes, and incense. The children have a bed away from home in the back of the family van as their mother unpacks and sets up her stall in the early hours of the morning on market day.

Christina’s stall is adjacent to the southern wall of the Museum.

Page 12 – John

Look through the door of the CWA Hall on market day and you will first of all see the silhouette of John and his clean-shaven head. As your eyes adjust to the light your nose will become sensitised to the smell of freshly cooked fried rice simmering in John’s electric fry-pans.

A glance around the hall opens up a choice of many different types of food including pies, quiches, Thai satays, as well as cakes, pastries, and drinks such as coffee, tea, and fruit juices. Customers for food slide past each other with full plates on their way to the tables and chairs in the hall or back outside to the surrounding stalls.

John’s food stall is immediately inside the front door of the food hall.

Page 13 – Early morning in the food hall

The empty space inside the CWA Hall quickly disappears as breakfast becomes a priority for stallholders who have been setting up since 5 am. This is the scene in the dining room as eight o’clock approaches and the markets begin to crank up for the real work of the day.

Page 14 – Jessica

The temperature of the early morning air can be cool even in Queensland which explains Jessica’s scarf and gloves. Jessica hand crafts the wallets, book covers, purses and other leather goods she sells. A feature of the type of leather she uses is the pleasing way it softens with age and use.

Visitors who make repeated return visits are the rule rather than the exception at Eumundi Markets. Each time they come, locals and tourists alike make a point of showing Jessica the increasing suppleness of the things they have purchased from her previously.

Jessica’s stall is towards the rear of the CWA Hall on the southern side.

Page 15 – Richard

Richard grows mushrooms organically. “I love going to Eumundi Markets: it’s great fun. I don’t have to go there but I go fifty two weeks a year,” Richard said. “It’s people that make it, the other stallholders - it’s fantastic.”

“And it’s all in such a confined space really, but it generates its own hum.”

Richard’s stall is in the southern section of the markets near the entrance of the CWA Hall beneath the Moreton Bay fig and camphor laurel trees.

Page 16 – Arnie

Arnie the toymaker stands with his wife Eva each Saturday at the markets surrounded by the wooden toys he makes and the children and parents who buy them. Eva says that she and Arnie may not be the stallholders who have been at the markets for the longest time but that they are almost certainly the oldest.

The toymaker’s stall is on the edge of Memorial Drive in front of the Museum.

Page 17

Christa

Christa Barton started the Eumundi Markets with her friend Gail Perry-Somers. The beautiful terracotta pots, plates and bowls she now sells at the markets are entirely her own design. She is self-taught and has achieved a remarkably high standard in a short time using the same personal style and tenacity with which he started the markets.

Christa’s stall is in the area in front of the Museum.

Page 18 – Maureen

Maureen’s background is fashion and in her Melbourne years she never imagined a role for herself as a stallholder at Eumundi Markets. Her attitude has changed completely. She finds the diversity of backgrounds amongst its stallholders fascinating.

“From ex-professionals to farmers, and I can’t think of any other place where you can say I’ll be back in fifteen minutes - look after my money,” Maureen said. “Stallholders are often their own worst enemies, they often go off and buy things from other stalls with the money they have made from their own.”

Maureen’s stall is in the area in front of the Museum.

Page 19 – Hugh

Hugh has been a stallholder at the markets for more than five years, starting originally in the kitchen in the CWA Hall. He has been selling collectables and bric-a-brac for about four years.

Hugh generally arrives at the markets around six o’clock in the morning when, as he says, “Half of the markets is already set up.” There is an element of fashion in his stall because certain items such as U.S. Army issue cigarette lighters from the Second World War and Vietnam can suddenly come into demand.

Hugh’s stall is in front of the Museum on the edge of Memorial Drive.

Page 20 – Gennieve

Gennieve makes leatherwork including baby booties and varies the type of things she sells. Some of her belts are at the radical end of the fashion scale and she freely admits people either love them or hate them. But she also says her clientele does not fit neatly into any category. Her dog collars with huge rocket studs attract a lot of attention.

Gennieve’s stall is in the southern section of the markets on a terrace lower down on the eastern side towards the main carpark.

Page 21 – Carmel

Eumundi Markets are the sole outlet for the vegetables Carmel and her husband Ray grow on their farm in the hills of Eumundi. “We live here and we grow here,” Ray said. “Eumundi is a way of life and we don’t intend to change ever.”

Before they started selling at Eumundi Markets they sold at Mooloolaba Market for six years. In there five years or so at the Eumundi Markets they have built friendships with customers to the extent that they correspond with a number of them who live elsewhere in Australia or overseas.

Carmel and Ray’s stall is in the southern section of the markets on the lower eastern side towards the main carpark.

Page 22 – Dave

Dave’s bonsai still stands serene in contrast to the seething Eumundi Markets and the colossuses of the Moreton Bay fig trees above him on Memorial Drive.

Dave’s stall is in the southern section of the markets on one of the terraces lower down on the eastern side towards the main carpark.

Page 23 – Terry

The Eumundi Markets is unofficial patron for Terry, a talented indigenous artist and musician. When Terry was invited to tour Canada and the United States the markets helped him with some financial assistance.

His work is a blend of traditional and modern techniques and perspectives. Many of his paintings depict the pioneering days of white Australia and Terry’s attitude is that “They did some pretty hard work.” Terry also plays his didgeridoo at the markets.

When Terry is at the markets he can usually be found in the southern section of the markets on the eastern side close to the main carpark.

Page 24 – Philippa

Philippa belongs to the Hermitage Foundation based in Gympie. The Foundation produces handcrafted furniture and decorative pieces from Australian native timbers under their Hermitage Country Crafts brand.

The Foundation’s opinion on the importance of the Eumundi Markets is unequivocal. “You must be able to sell crafts directly from the person who makes it to the public,” Philippa said. “Otherwise craft is not viable.”

Hermitage Country Crafts products are sold exclusively through the Eumundi Markets to Australian tourists as well as those from Canada, Germany, Holland, Britain, America, and Japan. “It is interesting that through the Eumundi Markets we can earn the tourist dollar for Australia because people from overseas like things that are actually made by people in Australia,” Philippa said. “I think the whole thing is great.”

The Hermitage Country Crafts stall is in the southern section of the markets on one of the terraces lower down on the eastern side towards the main carpark. Philippa’s son Andrew who is also part of the Hermitage Foundation group is featured on page 10.

Page 25 – Fiona

The soft appearance of Fiona’s face in the harsh light of the Queensland sun is a stunning reminder of the European ancestry of many Australian people.

Fiona sometimes helps her father Harry sell her mother Kathy’s hand-painted craftwork at the family’s stall.

Harry’s stall is right next door to Bruce the whipmaker in front of the Museum. Harry is featured on page 52.

Page 26 – The Gateways

The gateways to the markets in front of the Museum building along the footpath on Memorial Drive remind visitors of how free and open the Eumundi Markets are. There are no fences as such, only channels of interest created by the pathways lined on each side with a tremendous variety of stalls.

Page 27 – No ordinary shopping trip

Looking down on Graham the cactus man and the stalls beside him and opposite him, a human train of customers is involved in a massage of all their senses. Buying is closely related to the need to have a souvenir of the experience.

Page 28 – Charles

Mainstream retailers seeking to achieve an optimum dollar return for their floor-space would do well to study merchandising techniques at Eumundi Markets. Here the art of making maximum use of available space is practised with consummate skill. In mounting this display of hand-printed shirts Charles has only left himself a tiny piece of ground he is standing on.

Charles’ stall is against the southern wall of Museum.

Page 29 – John

John works with his mate Don in a business called Farmhouse Furniture, and much of their furniture is made from recycled timbers. Don’s girlfriend Trina is also involved. She hand-paints tiles and pots. Furniture from Farmhouse Furniture has been sold to people in Sydney, Melbourne and Hong Kong through orders taken at the Eumundi Markets.

Trina says the three of them have been selling at the markets for about five years but that furniture has only recently become their mainstay. “You can’t keep selling the same thing all the time. People get sick of it, so you have to change,” Trina said. “We do beds and tables and sideboards and all sorts of things!”

The Farmhouse Furniture stall is in the southern section of the markets on one of the terraces lower down on the eastern side towards the main carpark.

Page 30 – Roger

Roger lived in India for a number of years and the stoic sense of humour he demonstrates at the markets is probably derived from that time. For him the Eumundi Markets are much like Indian markets with their little stalls and everyone selling their wares.

Roger sells organically grown paw-paws. During winter he quite often wears an Indian jacket and cap. He enjoys relating directly to the people who pass near his stall. He calls out, in his best Indian accent: “I’m just a poor poor paw-paw man, please buy my paw-paws and make the wealthy.”

Roger’s stall in the southern section of the markets on the lower eastern side towards the main carpark.

Page 31 – Katherine

Katherine is a relative newcomer to Eumundi Markets and as a casual stallholder her site at the markets varies from one week to the next. She designs and makes lingerie by hand. Grandmothers are amongst her most uninhibited customers. They buy for their daughters and granddaughters or at least that’s what they say.

Katherine is full of admiration for the permanent stallholders who arrive at five o’clock in the morning or even earlier to unload and set up elaborate stalls and product displays. “It is a really nice community of people,” Katherine said. “And they seem to be a different kind of people, sort of outgoing and friendly. Everyone makes you feel welcome.”

As a casual stallholder Katherine does not necessarily attend the markets every week and the location of her stall varies according to the availability of space.

Page 32 – Millane

Millane designs and makes silver jewellery as well as printed scarves and sarongs. Her charming French accent belies the strength of purpose and effort she puts into the success of her stall.

She appears to be totally confident in the merits of her craft and completely at ease with customers. Like most stallholders at Eumundi Markets, she regards explanation and conversation as sales techniques far superior to psychological pressure.

Millane’s stall is in the southern section of the markets against the Moreton Bay fig and camphor laurel trees near the entrance of the CWA Hall.

Page 33 – Wayne

Wayne has a long association with the markets as a stallholder and a Convener of the markets for four years with Mary-Helen McMaster. Wayne’s father-in-law is Oswald ‘Ossie’ Jeffries a founding member of the Eumundi Historical Society (now Historical Association Inc.) and its treasurer for seventeen years.

Wayne’s stall is immediately in front of the Museum.

Page 34 – Jennifer

It’s hard to imagine anything more difficult to sell at a markets than hand-made shoes. The complexity of customer tastes and shoe sizes make it a difficult prospect for a stallholder dealing with itinerant customers one day a week. But Jennifer who makes shoes and sells them through a number of other outlets including an agent in New Zealand, regards her stall at Eumundi Markets as a perfect opportunity for market research.

Her experience is that tourists in particular are sceptical of the value of her shoes at first but that the ones who buy always come back. If someone wants a pair of shoes she does not have in their size, she takes an order and makes them. “I’ve learned a lot about how to handle people and to be self-controlled and confident,” Jennifer said.

Jennifer’s stall is in the area in front of the Museum.

Page 35 – CWA Hall – a home away from home

The CWA Hall is very much a home away from home for the stallholders and their families and for the visitors to the markets many of whom are locals or tourists who come regularly. The scenes that one can see around the markets and at special spots such as under the trees in front of the CWA Hall provide a wonderful glimpse into the front yard of the Eumundi community.

Page 36 – Tired moment

A brief lull the markets allows stallholders to catch their breath in much the same way as footballers taking a break at the halfway point in a match.

Page 37 – Annie

In Tasmania tannin from the trees lining the upper reaches of the Franklin and Gordon Rivers flows into Macquarie Harbour to create a colour which can never be simply described as brown. Annie has eyes the same colour. They are full of the innocent joy of a child fascinated by everything that comes into view.

Annie sells fresh bagels and croissants and says her stall offers her a complete escape from the type of 9 to 5 job she detests. “My man has a straight job,” Annie said. “I couldn’t stand it!”

Annie loves the markets, “It’s my family.”

Annie’s little stall is squeezed in along the northern wall of the CWA Hall.

Page 38 – Mark

Mark and his wife Loretta are professional stallholders and travellers who seem to enjoy Eumundi as a resting place in much the same way travellers from far north Queensland used to before the Bruce Highway was diverted around the town almost fifteen years ago. Mark talks of following marketss in Australia in much the same way early white explorers followed rivers.

Their Austrian clearlight crystals bring the flash of colour and hope that visitors to the Eumundi Markets want to buy. “We are selling rainbows as much as we are crystals,” Mark said. “As well as being decorative they can also be used as jewellery or meditative pieces or pendulums.”

The stall for Austrian crystal is in the southern section of the markets on one of the terraces lower down on the eastern side towards the main car park.

Page 39 – Peter

Peter Sells windmills for the mind. The symmetry and movement of his wind spirals distract the eyes and soothe the brain.

Peter’s stall faces Memorial Drive in the southern section of the markets immediately under the Moreton Bay fig trees.

Page 40 – Diana

Diana is an ex-journalist who is quick to turn her word skills and people skills into an endorsement for the Eumundi Markets. Ask her for a comment and she instinctively puts pen to paper. This is what she wrote: “Take one diminished small town, infuse it with a first-rate village market and the result is total revitalisation of Eumundi and all its environs - what a success story.”

Diana’s fruit stall is on the edge of Memorial Drive in the northern section of the markets.

Page 41 – Suphol

Suphol is the brand name of a range of Thai chili sauces prepared using original recipes developed by Suphol (pronounced ‘soup-ol) herself in Thailand. Her stepson Barry now owns the brand and Suphol is a figurehead who still comes to the markets because its friendliness reminds her of the markets she knew in Thailand. Her son Anu is actually the stallholder at the markets.

The Suphol Stark stall is next to Lindy’s organic herbs stall in the northern section of the markets facing Memorial Drive.

Page 42 – Graham

Graham the cactus man, as he is known, says it is impossible to pick his customers by age or appearance but that there is a clear dichotomy in attitudes towards cactuses - people either ‘love ‘em’ or ‘hate’em’.

He points out that the distinctive shapes of cactuses mostly follow a mathematical number pattern known as the Fibonacci sequence which is also Illustrated in other plants such as sunflowers whose seeds spiral out from the centre.

Some of Graham’s most interesting customers are children who collect cactuses from him and study them through books they buy or borrow from school and local libraries. The cactuses Graham sells at the markets are up to eight years old.

Graham’s stall is right in front of the Museum next to the baker.

Page 43 – Peering Under The Trees

The muscled branches of the Moreton bay fig trees hanging over the terraces at the southern end of the markets seem to hold the mass of people bobbing about below them like figures suspended from a nursery room mobile. In many ways the Eumundi Markets are a fairyland in which hardened adult consumers can lose themselves without fear of losing their money.

Page 44 – Saree

Saree makes hand-painted glassware. Saree’s experience at the markets is one that she shares with many of the stallholders at Eumundi Markets. “It has been very satisfying because I was always a very shy person,” Saree said. “And it has been good for my confidence in myself to make the things that I sell.”

“Building up relationships with people has also been nice. I have customers from Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide and I buy something every time they come.”

Saree’s stall is in the area in front of the Museum.

Page 45 – Sally

Sally draws much of her inspiration for the jewellery she designs and makes, from the natural environment. She is an active conservationist.

She works in a variety of materials including silver. The motifs in her silverwork reflect tribal and natural perspectives. Her other jewellery includes a colourful range of Great Barrier Reef fantasies.

After almost ten years at the markets Sally says she still feel slightly uncomfortable being publicly on display with her work which is also sold through other outlets in Australia as well as the United States and Japan.

Sally’s stall is in front of the Museum.

Page 45 – Bruce

While the real origin of the Eumundi name is not absolutely clear, Bruce the whipmaker has no doubt. He says straight-faced, “It is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘a wonderful little spot in a valley to have a market’.”

Bruce is the principal of Cull Whipmakers which makes whips and other leather goods such as belts and pouches full-time. He is also a stallholder representative at Historical Association meetings where issues related to the management of the markets are discussed.

Bruce’s stall is located in front of the Museum.

Page 47 – Jenny

Jenny Wagner and her husband Joe Wagner belong to the Eumundi Markets and the Eumundi community as much as they do to themselves. Jenny’s first contact with the markets was in the early days picking up papers after the markets closed. “There was no payment, it was just a good thing to do,” Jenny said.

Later she had a food stall in the CWA Hall and somewhere along the way she ran a coffee shop on the site of what is now a fruit and vegetable shop on the western side of Memorial Drive at the southern end.

Jenny is a former Convener of the markets and the well-known author, particularly of children’s books. She has a publisher but still likes to sell and sign her books at her stall at the markets.

Jenny’s stall is in front of the Museum.

Page 48 – Melame

Melame’s mother Lindy Emmett is one of the originals of the Eumundi Markets and is still selling basically the same things she was more than a decade ago. “Herbs and pots and a few little fruit trees that we grow ourselves,” says Lindy. Lindy also maintains a seed bank of traditional varieties of fruit and vegetables.

“I have to get here (the markets) in the dark to beat my first customers because they are so keen and quite often they will help me unload the truck because organic produce is in such demand,” Lindy said. “My stall attracts like-minded people interested in organic herbs and foods. For me it is just wonderful.”

Lindy’s stall is at the far end of the northern section of the markets bordering Memorial Drive.

Page 49 – Jeff

Jeff is an Aussie with a taste for the Cote D’Azur of France where he has a stall in a village market. Jeff travels between Eumundi and France making and selling his puppets.

When he first went to Europe many years ago he decided to emulate the people who sold goods from cloths on the footpath in defiance of regulations. The cloths, known as tapis, could be quickly scooped up by the four corners if police approached.

Using Aussie know-how Jeff managed to develop a tapi that could be set up to display merchandise at eye level while still being collapsible for a quick getaway. The construction of his puppets demonstrates the same ingenuity.

Jeff’s stall is across from the southern wall of the CWA Hall.

Page 50 – Tim

Tim makes use Garnisha brand curry pastes for all types of palates, the ones that prefer searing heat and those who want subtle taste. They are all homemade at his kitchen in Boreen Point.

Tim offers free tastings at his stall in the southern section of the markets on the terrace almost immediately behind the Moreton bay fig trees.

Page 51 – Tony

The Eumundi Markets has had a bakery stall since its earliest days and there were no objections from shop owners because the town had no baker of its own at the time. Originally it was the Kenilworth Baker who delivered the bread to Christa Barton’s house behind the Eumundi Post Office on Friday evenings to be sold in the CWA Hall on market day.

Every Saturday this mountain bread, cakes, buns and pastries appears, and disappears before the markets close. When Tony is not behind the stall his mate Ingo is.

The bakery stall is immediately in front of the Museum.

Page 52 – Harry

Harry combines the traditions of a farmer and Santa Claus in the way he shepherds the hand-painted terracotta animals displayed in front of him and the customers who come to look.

This stall is a family affair with Harry’s wife Kathy doing the craftwork at home and Harry doing the selling at the markets, sometimes with the help of their daughter Fiona.

Harry’s stall is right next to Bruce the whipmaker in front of the Museum. Harry’s and Kathy’s daughter Fiona is featured on page 25.

Page 53 – Rachel And Peter

Rachel and Peter are a husband and wife team who operate Habitat Designs as a way of supplementing income from regular jobs in Brisbane. The income from the baskets and director’s chair jazz covers they sell at the markets is part of their plans to start a family.

They call them jazz covers because they ‘jazz’ up deckchairs which are a commonplace and very functional piece of furniture in the great indoors and outdoors of Queensland homes and restaurants. The covers are equally functional in that they are machine washable.

The Habitat Designs stall is against the northern wall of the CWA Hall.

Page 54 – Richard

Richard is a glassmaker with sixteen years experience who regards himself as a craftsman first and an artist second. The mirrors at the back of his stall are eye-catching but it is leadlight panels that are really his life’s work. His studio is high in the Blackall Ranges.

At the markets his display includes glass jewellery and photographs of leadlight panels commissioned for churches, including restorations, and homes in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast.

Richard’s stall can be found in the southern section of the markets on one of the terraces lower down on the eastern side towards the main carpark.

Page 55 – Rosslyn

Rosslyn makes and sells unusual terracotta garden, table, and wall decorations. In the foreground of this picture is a pot of terracotta worms wriggling their way over the side. The worms are famous. They have been on national television and in the press. They have also made appearances in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Rosslyn says the inspiration for her big worms came from a tiny terracotta worm someone gave her a long time ago. “From little worms to flourishing worm factories,” is the way she describes the growth of her worm trade. “I’m known as the worm lady.”

She’s one of the market’s original stallholders and began by selling second hand clothes. She has fond memories of the days when there was no paving or grass on the markets site “only dirt and dogs.” And in the CWA Hall visitors were dumbfounded by the sight of women openly breastfeeding.

Rosslyn’s stall is in front of the Museum.

Page 56 – Kym and Pam (left to right)

The magnificent Moreton Bay fig trees lining the eastern side of Memorial Drive, Eumundi’s main street, are symbolic of the Eumundi Markets and a reminder of the rainforest that once flourished in the area. The outstretched branches of one of the trees provides a perfect setting for a Eumundi Markets stall.

The stall of Pam and her daughter Kym is in the southern section of the markets on the eastern side of the Moreton Bay fig trees.

Page 57 – Darrell and Jimmy (left to right)

Dinky-di is what Darrell and Jimmy are from the soles of their boots to the words of the songs they play in sing. They met in Broome Western Australia eleven years ago and they have been singing together ever since, give or take a break from each other here and there.

They sing mostly Australian bush ballads including some of their own songs composed mostly by Jimmy. The song ‘G’day, g’day’ typifies their good humoured Aussie style and it’s a favourite with visitors to the markets. Fans from as far as Brisbane come regularly to hear them and children are always ready for nursery rhymes and other songs sung specially for them.

Darrell and Jimmy move between spots in front of the markets along Memorial Drive.

Page 58 – Rubbing Shoulders

The scene here is at the northern end of the markets looking down from the Museum balcony. Shoulder to shoulder contact is a feature of the markets especially at Easter when many thousands of people pack themselves between the stalls.

Page 59 – Del

Del’s philosophy and attitude to people is grounded in days gone by when people lived in small self-sufficient communities baking their own bread, making their own jams without preservatives, and growing their own vegetables with natural fertilisers such as cow manure. Del describes Eumundi Markets as a little window on the world she grew up in.

Del’s stall is at the edge of the footpath on Memorial Drive in the northern section of the markets.

Page 60 – Living Museum

The diversion of the Bruce Highway past Eumundi ended a chapter in the town’s history and almost wiped it from the map. The advent of the markets condensed Eumundi’s history into a weekly event complete with a Museum (seen here in the background) as a silo for the past including the artefacts of the area’s pioneers.

The identity and culture of Eumundi is now represented by its crafts but more importantly it is expressed and celebrated by the life of the markets each week.

Page 61 – Meg

Meg the wife of Convener George Howie watches the markets assemble from her family’s stall at the front entrance of the CWA Hall. In the early days at the markets the Howies used to make leatherwork and other crafts. They now sell all sorts of small finely detailed crafts from many different cultures.

Page 62 – The Town is the Markets

The markets are well underway by mid-morning every Saturday. The scene here is immediately in front of the Museum at the northern end of the markets. A section of the CWA Hall can be seen to the left and in the background is the Uniting Church.

Page 63 – George and Peter (left to right)

George Howie and Peter Miller follow a long tradition at the Eumundi Markets of having two Conveners backing each other up in the task organising the placement and allocation of stalls on market day.

Officially George is the manager and Peter his deputy but with the amount of work they have to get through there is no standing on ceremony. The families of both have stalls at the markets and helping them is another task they have to fit in.

They begin their rounds at 5 am and by 6:30 am they are in a position to allocate vacant stalls, if there are any, to casual stallholders waiting hopefully on the other side of Memorial Drive.

The logistics of allocating space in such a densely packed the area and satisfying the needs of so many people, places a good deal of pressure firmly on their shoulders. They manage to carry out the task with aplomb and almost universal approbation.