Windellama Country Market volunteers Gayle Stanton, Michele Goltsman, Kylie McGraw and Leanne Lourigan. Photo: Mark Goltsman.
Forty kilometres southeast of Goulburn and with a changing population, the village of Windellama has become a kitchen-led community.
Drawn from Sydney, the Illawarra and Canberra by lifestyle blocks, the latest arrivals are scattered over a wide area. So on the third Sunday of each month, lured out by bacon-and-egg rolls and Leanne Lourigan’s homemade pies and sausage rolls, they congregate, licking their lips inside Windellama Community Hall.
Leanne’s husband, Gary, who is president of the Windellama Progress Association, says the conversation that flows from the monthly country market is as keenly sought as the home-baked goodies.
Beginning 15 years ago, the markets have progressively drawn a bigger following from stallholders and customers.
“As the markets grew, we grew with them; we got better food, better service etc. over that time,” Gary said. “Before that time they were a bit ad hoc, and we were pleased to make $150.”
He said the village had about 260 registered voters, and many more regular weekenders. In any rural village, old-timers brush off new arrivals as ‘blow-ins’. But Gary takes the opposite view. “New people bring new ideas, it’s as simple as that. I quite enjoy them coming and talking,” he said.
He says the markets would be nothing without the community hall’s bustling kitchen, which Leanne, a retired teacher who came with Gary from Jambaroo 20 years ago, has transformed through her drive and passion.
“The crew she has gathered around her, merely by her impetus, are bloody good as well,” Gary says emphatically.
“We are lucky to have our kitchen ladies. One of them, Julie White used to run the canteen at Goulburn Mulwaree High School. She comes with her cakes and there’s another lady who always turns up with a tray of absolutely beautiful cakes.”
Fiona Lillie with her honey products from Fee’s Bees, helping two young customers. Photo: Mark Goltsman.
But the volunteers know their limitations. When organisers of the Centenary of Australia’s First Motorcycle Grand Prix invited the progress association to cater on the day of the celebrations in June, they declined.
Gary says they have neither the number of volunteers nor toilet facilities to handle a crowd of between 500 and 600 to commemorate the 104-mile handicap course that included Windellama a century ago.
“Our input won’t be much, other than to provide a viewing area and a support area for repairing bikes as they come through,” he said.
Over the years newcomers have brought new ventures with them including wineries and cottage industries like filling online orders for jam and honeypots.
“We have a great charity here, Peanuts Wellbeing Sanctuary, which aims to break the cycle of abuse of children and animals,” Gary said. Run by a young couple with oversight from NSW Government agencies and health professionals, the sanctuary hosts children from the city who can bond with rescue animals. It received an annual grant from the progress association.
Market co-ordinator Michele Goltsman says regular stallholders include a couple of men selling secondhand tools, others selling plants, handicrafts, cupcakes, honey, jams, leatherwork and clothes.
Any profit is spent maintaining the community hall, village school, Rural Fire Service, war memorial in Bungonia and others. The hall is a designated safe place for the area, where people have camped during bushfires.
From Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Michele and her husband Mark arrived several years ago. The journey back to Sydney takes about two hours and 20 minutes.
“We have to go back to Sydney regularly for family and friends, and that’s fine, it means we have the best of both worlds. We can get back into the city, the hustle and bustle, boutique shopping and whatnot and come back and enjoy our beautiful land,” she said.
Customers come looking for something to buy and to chat at the Windellama country markets. Photo: Michele Goltsman.
“Look, you can actually taste the air in Sydney,” she said. “When you have been living out here for a while you can actually taste the difference in the air and the traffic problems in there [Sydney] is obviously a problem as well.”
In 2023, after a weekender had asked why the village didn’t have roadside signs on the approaches, the progress association responded with the help of Goulburn Mulwaree Council. Two signs were duly erected – then promptly stolen. They have not been replaced as yet, but the kitchen has no trouble getting regulars to beat a direct path to the hall on a Sunday morning each month.
Loading ...
