farmdoc's blog post number 341

When I was a nipper, with two of his brothers my dad owned and operated Major Tyre Company in Queen Street Melbourne near the Queen Victoria Market. I adored Saturday mornings with my dad – especially, of course, the jam doughnuts. Then in the 1970s when we lived in Parkville and frequently passed The Market, darling Megan Victoria would exclaim: ‘It’s named after me’. After we moved to North Caulfield in 1980, it was still worth travelling to The Market for fruit and veg, eggs and meat, rather than say the closer Prahran Market. So each Saturday morning I and my market trolley went with John Parnell. For years. Now Sweetheart Vivienne lives in the city, naturally The Market is her local market. Over the past 50-60 years The Market hasn’t changed much – the produce is just as mouth-watering, the Asian-looking stallholders still speak with broad Aussie accents (having probably descended from 1850s gold-seekers, they’re more Australian than I am), and the spruikers are just as raucous and the tourists just as excited. And you still buy jam doughnuts from the same van. Via 1,300 photovoltaic panels, in 2002 The Market became a major solar power generator. In early 2009 The Market turned 130 years old. I’ve known it almost half its life. If you are what you eat, Melburnians have much to thank The Market for. Long may it flourish.