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HISTORY
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In 1982, as an outlet for the toys and handcraft made by a group of unemployed girls meeting regularly at the Baptist Church in Christies Beach, the Christies Beach Open Market was founded. Mrs. Yvonne Weight, Celia and Roy Fletcher, Shirley Drechsler and Lorna Castle made up the foundation committee with John Ford as Chairman. Pastor John Annells agreed with the concept and approached the local Council. They offered the use of the Reserve on Beach Road, Christies Beach, for a market on the first Saturday in the month. The market was intended for local people on pensions, or the unemployed who wanted to supplement their income at a craft market. Seven stallholders paying $1 each for a nine feet stall site, attended the first market held in May 1982. It was an instant success. The following market had thirteen stallholders and numbers continued to increase until December when ninety stalls were erected. If any stallholders were found who did not live in the local area, they were turned away. Commercial goods were not permitted, nor goods which were also sold by the Beach Road Traders. The committee at this time consisted of Chairman John Ford, Vice Chairman Shirl Drechsler, second Vice Chairman Steve Gasson, Secretary Lorna Castle, Treasurer Ros Northover and Members John Phillipson, Yvonne Weight, Yvonne Weight Snr. Irene Lupton and Barry Northover. At the inaugural AGM, Mr. John MacDonnell who requested that commercial traders be barred from the market, represented Council. He also requested that the committee keep a close watch on stalls, as he was disturbed by the amount of trash and treasure on sale, especially as the original permit was intended for a craft market meant for local people. In addition, the number of stalls setting up, troubled him to the extent that he advised that a limit may have to be set on the numbers. The committee was also advised that they were to ensure that the market did not extend on to the private property adjoining the reserve. Mr. Cox, who represented the Beach Road Traders, reported that some of the traders were not very happy that people were spending money at the market and not in their shops. However, no official complaint was lodged. Even during these early days, dogs were creating a nuisance and owners were asked to keep them on a lead or leave them in the vehicle, otherwise the stallholder would be asked to leave the market. For toilet facilities, the committee directed any person who asked, to the Medical Centre, the toilets at the back of the block of shops opposite the market reserve, or the Garage (Petrol Station). Things have changed very little when it comes to stallholders selling excluded goods. Some of the goods encountered during the first twelve months of operation were watches, and a man was selling new soft toys, which had been made in Korea. In July 1983, the stall site fee was raised to $2. The increase allowed for a larger stall, the length of a car and trailer, but one stallholder still objected to the increase. Because they were arriving too early, stallholders had to be told that they were not permitted to enter the reserve before 7.00am. The stall numbers maintained their high count and their content continued to diversify into second hand as well and handcraft. Council became further concerned that the organizers were not abiding by their initial approval to hold a craft market. A public meeting was called in April 1983, to thrash out the problems. Mr. John MacDonnell, from the then Noarlunga Council, attended to put the Council's concerns on record. He once again requested that the committee keep a firm hand on people using the market. He was still worried by the amount of Trash and Treasure being permitted; the market was moving away from Craft. In June 1983, the committee submitted "a very well prepared application", with a $20 fee, to alter the conditions of trading; mainly to cover used goods, or rather "personal miscellaneous items". The application was not acceptable and council returned the $20 fee. In December of the same year, Councillor Artie Ferguson attended a meeting in an effort to guide the committee and advise them of the Council's wishes. As the market was so popular, and because of the perceived effects on the Beach Road Traders, Council asked the committee to change the day of operations to Sunday, but this was unanimously rejected by the committee. However, the committee did reluctantly agree that Saturday afternoon could be an alternative, if absolutely necessary, and they were forced to change. In December 1983, new members Mary and Len Davis, Steve and Sue Moore, John and Gwen Bytheway and Margaret Pass supplemented the committee. Stall site numbers were maintained and 98 stallholders were setting up by the end of 1983. The very popularity of the market proved to be its undoing. Stallholder numbers and the types of goods being offered for sale (including new wares), the committee's inability to maintain the original development plan agreement, and because the committee refused to consider changing the day on which to hold the market (from Saturday to Sunday), Council had no other choice but to withdraw their approval. A new development plan application had to be submitted. Council made it clear that they would not allow a Saturday morning market but that they would help with a Saturday afternoon market. Because no one on the committee could understand why the Council appeared to be obstructive, they initiated letters to be given to friends and neighbours for their signatures, or for them to copy and send to council. Committee members were all encouraged to stir the public into writing to Council, the local papers and to contact Local Members of Parliament and anyone else of influence. They enlisted a friend well versed in legal matters, who offered help, especially with legal terminology. Mr. Bytheway offered to see Mr. MacDonnell at Council chambers to see if he could clarify matters, because the committee believed that on one hand they had been told that the market would only be able to continue on private land and on the other, that Saturday afternoon or Sunday on the Reserve would be acceptable. Mr. Bytheway reported to the next committee meeting that Mr. MacDonnell had stated that the main problem of the market, as he saw it, was that of traffic congestion. Council was actually in favour of the market continuing and that there did not seem to be a problem with second-hand items. Mr. MacDonnell had also said that council was willing to give consent to a market beginning at 11.30am on one Saturday morning each month with a limit of 80 stalls. The committee was now required to make a full, complete application for continuance of the Open Market and pay the $80 fee. It was during April that the committee heard rumour that the Noarlunga Mature Unemployed had applied to run a market once a month. The committee members had become so demoralized that at the Christies Beach Open Market's Annual General Meeting on 12 April 1984, when all offices were declared vacant, it was feared that the Open Market would be declared defunct because there were no nominations to fill the vacant positions. Contrary to everyone's belief that was not the end of the market! Mary Davis offered to be interim chairman of the "Original" Open Market until a new application was replied to and the market operating again. Ros Northover, who had been Treasurer since April 1983, agreed to carry the position of Secretary and Treasurer together. A new committee was eventually elected. They were Mary Davis, Ros Northover, John and Gwen Bytheway, Jim Hanvey, Margaret Pass, Barry Northover, and Eddy Groves who was voted in, in his absence. Mr. Groves later refused the nomination. The new committee made a fresh application to Council requesting a market to run as usual, on the first Saturday of each month and to operate from 11.00am til 4.00pm. Their plan requested sites for fifty cars with a footnote that no more than eighty stalls would be permitted. It also stated that those permitted to use the market would be Charity Organizations, unemployed, pensioners, disabled and those on low-incomes etc. No professional or commercial traders. Goods to be sold were to be arts and crafts, second hand goods and home-grown produce. Sellers to park on the reserve. Commercially made goods would only be allowed if they had been donated to a charity. Mary Davis and John Bytheway personally took the application to Mr. MacDonnell for checking so that council would be more likely to approve it. In June, the council advised that the application had been refused because there had been six objections to it. Three of these objections were from the Beach Road Traders operating in the immediate vicinity of the reserve, claiming the market patrons were taking their car parks. Two were from the York Real Estate firm claiming that the reserve was zoned residential and not commercial. The sixth objection was from the Noarlunga Mature Unemployed who wanted the Original Open Market to change its day of operation from the first Saturday in the month because they were now operating a market on the first Sunday. Committee members felt that the N.M.U. (Noarlunga Mature Unemployed) had usurped the Original Open Market's position and that was not to be condoned. Mr. McDonnell once more vetted the market's new application for approval and suggested applying for an 11.30am start. However, Council would not accept this and another application had to be submitted. This time the committee succumbed to pressure and agreed to request a 1.00pm admittance for a 1.30pm start, on the third Saturday of the month. In addition, to avoid stallholders queuing for a site, the Op Shop was co-opted to pre-sell tickets for the market. Council agreed to the amendments and finally, approval was restored, starting on 4 December 1984, subject to no objections being received. Council's conditions were that stall sites must be no more than 5m x 1.5m and number no more than 50, unless prior permission was sought. The first market under the new approval was held on 5 January 1985. This was a great success. Then another bombshell. Cars and trailers were to be banned (subject to by-law xxix) from parking on the reserve during the market. Once again, the committee were upset, believing that the N.M.U. market was being treated with more leniency. However, the N.M.U. were asked to remove all market cars also, although trailers were permitted to remain. The soft drink van that had been attending the N.M.U. market was also debarred. Rotary markets were not affected by the ban. Lobbying of council and Elected Members then began for cars and trailers to be allowed to remain of the reserve The lobbying continued incessantly for three years. In the meantime, the Original Open Market and the Noarlunga Mature Unemployed Market operated in tandem, each under its own banner and each reasonably successful. In October 1985, five new people were co-opted onto the Original Open Market Committee. They were Ron and Hazel Brown, Sylvia Payne, Bob Bickford and Lyn Mayne. Mr. Bickford was later elected Chairman at the Annual General Meeting held in December 1985 and Mrs. Mayne became Secretary/Treasurer. The committee now included these new members, as well as Gwen and John Bytheway, Margaret Pass, Ros Northover and Mary Davis, who resigned shortly after. Both Mrs. Northover and Mrs. Payne, later resigned. After the new committee took control, it instigated a complete overhaul of practices. Donations increased and a closer working relationship with Noarlunga Council was established. Councillor Artie Ferguson suggested that to be more accountable, the Original Open Market should become Incorporated. In late 1986, with the registration of a Constitution, (drafted by Mr. Bickford) the Original Open Market became an Incorporated Association, whilst at the same time the N.M.U. market folded. Although there had been other applications for the position, the Noarlunga Council subsequently granted the Original Open Market Inc. the control of the defunct market . It was not until August 1988 that the market received permission for cars and trailers to remain on the reserve. Councillor Ferguson had worked on behalf of the market to get Council to change its mind. A few changes occurred to the committee during the late eighties. Joan Bickford and Ernest Pass joined the committee in 1987 and during 1989, eighteen year old Brett Mayne was co-opted to a vacancy caused by Hazel and Ron Brown's resignation. The Saturday market changed to Sunday (at Council's request) in 1990, setting the scene for a market on the first and third Sundays in the month. This format continues today. In 1991, Christies Beach TV Repairs agreed to allow the market the use of their toilet. The following year, the shop arranged for the market to use the abandoned toilet in the block. It was in a deplorable state and the committee spent considerable time and money on refurbishing it. All the plumbing had to be overhauled and a qualified plumber was called to do the job. The filth was cleaned up; the seat replaced; the electrical fittings were renewed and the whole place was repainted. Market patrons and stallholders were directed to this facility and warned that they were not to bother the local businesses in future. In order to maintain control over the cleanliness and condition of the toilet during markets, the door remained locked and any person requiring the use of the facility was required to pay a deposit for the key. The deposit was refunded on return of the key. Gwen Bytheway and Joan Bickford took on the job of Flusherettes to ensure a clean and tidy toilet was available. The market grew from strength to strength. In 1992, Margaret Pass and her now retired husband Ernest, were awarded Life Membership's. However, ill health plagued Ernest, and Margaret left the committee in 1993. It was also during 1992 that the committee decided that the market should have its own Inspector to check up on stallholders. Too many people were attempting to flout the rules. A number of volunteers, from within and outside the committee, were trialled, but it was not until 1995 that the committee found the ideal Inspector in Gwen Bytheway. She was able to do the exacting job with tact and diplomacy, so that instead of alienating stallholders, she was able to make them willingly do what was required of them. Gwen held the Inspector's position as well as being Flusherette, until 1998, when she and husband John, who had been the Traffic Controller, resigned. In addition, 1992 saw Life Memberships awarded to Gwen and John Bytheway and later the same year to Joan and Bob Bickford. It was during 1992 that Fay and Ricki Lord joined the committee. Fay immediately took on the job of Flusherette with Gwen and Joan. Donations continued to increase and in 1995 one of the greatest acknowledgements the market has received, was when the City of Noarlunga Mayor, Ray Gilbert, his wife Edith and Councillor Artie Ferguson, presented the Original Open Market Inc. with a Certificate of Merit in recognition of its generous support of local charities. That support had reached thirty thousand dollars. The committee awarded Secretary/Treasurer Lyn Mayne with her Life Membership in 1995, the same year that her son Brett resigned from the committee to get married. However, Mr. Bob Brockenbrow willingly took over from Mr. Mayne. It was in January 1998 that John and Gwen Bytheway resigned. Barbara and Ted Hayden filled their vacated positions and Mrs. Hayden stepped in as Assistant Flusherette. Due to ill health, Life Member and Chairman, Bob Bickford, was forced into premature retirement in April 1999 and Mrs. Hayden became Chairman. Mrs. Bickford had resigned earlier in the year because of her ill health and Mrs. Rita Brockenbrow became a committee member along with Mr. Frank Romeo, who had spent twelve months assisting the committee on market days. The decade of the nineties saw the market grow in size, reputation and credibility. The only cloud on the horizon was a small blip. Rumours abounded about the market's imminent closure. However, the committee, with Council's help, disproved those rumours and the skies cleared. In late 1999, local community groups began hosting a sausage sizzle at the market to raise much-needed funds. The idea was to allow each group two months each (four markets), at a time. Every community group, who helped the community, and were based in the area, were to be given permission to participate. That participation was to give them a chance of being better able to fund those repairs to clubrooms and equipment that were not covered by the State Government's Emergency Services Levy distribution. Everyone was happy. The groups were raising money and the market stallholders and patrons had an opportunity to buy themselves a cheap lunch and give their children a treat. It upheld the tradition of snack foods for the public at such events. Suddenly, a large thunderhead loomed, in the shape of the fish and chip shop. The owners confronted the committee and gave them an ultimatum - no sausage sizzle or no toilet. The market's objectives had always been to help fund groups or charities and the sausage sizzle was too valuable to the local community to give it away without some effort to retain it, especially as the shop in question did not open until 11.00 am. Most of the sausages sold between 9.00 and 11.00. Apart from that, the toilet was part of the TV repair shops lease, although the small amount of water used by stallholders would have been charged to the block of shops of which the fish and chip shop also belonged. However, the effort was in vain; because of the one complaint, the Original Open Market Inc. had the toilet padlocked against it and the community groups lost their sausage sizzle. It was a sad day when one voice deprived hundreds of a means to replace a Life saving reel, or mend the brakes on a CFS truck, or any one of a dozen or more items for which the local groups needed the funds . Everyone is still hoping that permission for the groups to conduct the sausage sizzle will return. The setback over the lost toilet was proving difficult to overcome until Ray Goldie, co-ordinator of the Beach Road Main Street Project, stepped in. He could not make the irate shop proprietor relent but he did find another toilet for the market to use. With the blessings of Dominic, the owner of the shops to which the toilet was attached, and the permission of the Adult Book Shop proprietor, whose toilet it was, another hurdle was satisfactorily overcome. Once again, the horizon is looking clear. Mrs. Liz Stanley became a committee member early in 2000 when Mrs. Brockenbrow had to retire due to health problems. The Committee at May 2000 consisted of Chairman/Flusherette Barbara Hayden, Vice-Chairman Ricki Lord, Secretary/Treasurer Lyn Mayne, Ticket Officer Fay Lord, Control Officer Ted Hayden, Inspector Liz Stanley and Committee Members Bob Brockenbrow and Frank Romeo. Due to his inability to walk around the market without experiencing considerable pain, Ricki had to retire as Inspector. Whilst holding that position, which he took over when Mrs. Bytheway resigned, he has continued to increase the goodwill that the committee shared with stallholders. At the end of the millennium, three committee members resigned. They were Barb and Ted Hayden and Bob Brockenbrow. Liz stepped in and became a very able Inspector and was elected to the Chairman's position when Barb stepped down. Mr. Bickford who had partly recovered from his illness, agreed to rejoin the committee. Two new members were elected. Paula Tonkin came in as First Aid officer, later graduating to Assistant Controller and then as Ticket Officer when Fay voluntarily stepped into the Assistant's position and John Stanley took up the position of Control's assistant. Mr. Romeo took over the Control job and showed a competency well beyond his experience. Artie Ferguson continued his interest in the market as a Councillor until he lost his re-election campaign in the year 2000. As a private person, Mr. Ferguson continued to show an intense interest in the Original Open Market Inc. offering advice and support when needed. He was elected Patron at the Annual General Meeting in 2001. Secretary Lyn Mayne developed and donated an official web site for the market and wrote a Business Plan which was eventually published in 2001. The same year saw Bob Bickford finally retire through ill health. The 2002 committee was made up of Liz Stanley Chairman, Ricki Lord Vice-Chairman, Lyn Mayne Secretary, Paula Tonkin Ticket Officer, Frank Romeo Control, and Fay Lord, John Stanley and Peter Iussa assistants. Peter had joined the committee to fill the vacancy left when Bob Bickford resigned. 2003 saw the market operating understaffed when Fay and Ricki Lord were forced to retire due to Ricki's continuing ill-health. Finally, after a trial period, Gordon Morgan was co-opted to join us. A group of seven stallholders were interviewed to fill the other vacancy, but none were available, or suitable, until Helmut Herrmann agreed to trial for the position. His trial proved very satisfactory and he became one of our hardest workers. Unfortunately Helmut was let go in 2004 and Peter resigned in November 2004 due to ill-health. Because of a total lack of volunteers to join the committee, Fay and Ricki Lord returned to help out. However, Ricki just could not manage the work and had to give up the market, but Fay continued in her old position of Ticket Officer and she also took over as Flusherette. Then, when Paula resigned in 2005 her position was filled by Stan Mayne. In December of 2006, Fay eventually tendered her final resignation and the committee inveigled upon Mr. Gabriel Intervera to give us a try. He proved a very suitable committee member and then Debbie Adams, whom the committee was lucky enough to find, showed herself as a quick learner and ably took over the Ticket Officer's responsibilities, including a very efficient Flusherette. Maurice Graham joined us in 2007 and after training in most positions, is now the Gate Keeper, helping to admit stallholders each market morning. Sadly, in 2008 Margaret Pass, Life Member, passed away In October, 2007 the Market celebrated its twenty fifth Birthday with a special market and in 2008, the Original Open Market was awarded the City of Onkaparinga 2008 Community Event of the Year. From 2004 when Good Vibrations changed Managers, the market had to put up with innumerable complaints about our use of the toilet which was the toilet that was owned by the shop. Every couple of months there was a complaint and threats of being barred the use of the facility. The committee did everything in its power to comply with the wishes of the shop even the unreasonable complaints such as a person exiting the facility had to shut the door on anyone wishing to enter, so that that person had to use his own key. The stallholders eventually learned that the gate was to be kept shut and the toilet door locked at all times and for a while there was peace. Then in May 2007 the bombshell. A new shop in the block, changed the locks on the gate and put all our belongings onto the reserve. We were prohibited from even storing our rubbish bins in the breeze-way behind the shops. Luckily, because of the continuous previous complaints, the committee had arranged different toilet facilities to take place in such an emergency. The committee and stallholders cannot thank COVE COMPUTERS enough for the use of their toilet. The facility will be controlled in the same manner as the Good Vibrations toilet and the committee will bend over backwards, as we did with the other convenience, to ensure that the new place and yard will be respected. We will maintain only two bins for the sausage sizzle area, and these will be chained to the council fence for safety reasons. Hopefully, we will work out a way to prevent people from damaging them in between markets. On the whole, the market continues to attract new stallholders and customers. The cars are still admitted in an average twenty minutes when we have the full complement of 100 stalls. The now amalgamated City of Onkaparinga (Noarlunga, Willunga and Happy Valley Councils) and the Original Open Market Inc. work closely in a professional and co-operative manner. The only thing likely to see the demise of the market is the withdrawal of its permission to use the reserve; the reserve that has become its home and the focal point of residents and visitors to the City of Onkaparinga on the first and third Sunday morning of each month. The support to local charities, organizations and residents of the City of Onkaparinga continue and donations totalled over $150,000. The Original Open Market Committee hopes, and is prepared, to go on for years to come, giving funds to those in need. It is estimated that the next $100,000 should be donated by 2011 at the latest, although that date is not set in cement.
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Original Open Market Inc. The free to the public market. All Rights
Reserved Updated 10 September 2008 |