For the first time in more than a century, fresh produce farmers will return to the home of the very first market place established in Australia this Saturday – the iconic Church Street Mall in Parramatta.
Bells will be rung at 10am on Saturday, August 16 to signal the market's opening, just as they were during the early years of the colony.
"It all goes back to 1791 while Arthur Phillip was Governor of New South Wales. From the desperate attempts to sow the first seeds, to the healthy crops that quickly dominated the landscape, a market place was created opposite the site of St John's Cathedral at the Town Hall to distribute the produce to the infant colony," Parramatta Lord Mayor Paul Barber said.
"We now return to that very place two hundred and seventeen years later where Governor Phillip first opened those markets in 1791," he said.
"From your butcher, baker and candle-stick maker, these Saturday markets will bare an amazing resemblance to the original with an astonishing array of fresh produce from over forty different stalls."
Stalls will offer the very best in locally produced fresh fruit, breads, farmed vegetables, lamb and beef, smoked seafood, cheeses, pates, juices, honey, flowers, condiments, milk, yoghurt, eggs and soaps.