Mossman Market safe for now, management pledges
Shire venues
Mossman Market managers have moved to reassure stallholders and marketgoers that the popular Saturday morning venue will not be closing anytime soon.
The move comes after it was revealed last week that Anglican Church receivers are likely to sell off the land where the market operates to help pay off multimillion-dollar sexual-abuse-redress debts - the block also contains nine iconic mature raintrees synonymous with the historic town.
In a letter to stallholders, market manager Reverend Deborah Kachel said she wanted them to hear the news directly from her.
“Our Mossman Markets are staying, right here under our beautiful raintrees, for the foreseeable future,” Rev Kachel wrote.
“I know there’s been talk and uncertainty about the land, and I understand how unsettling that can feel for a community that’s built so much here together.
“Please be assured that our Church Council is working hard, restructuring where needed, to retain ownership of this site — so it remains home to our Market and to all the community groups who gather here for events and activities.”
Newsport understands that the weekly Mossman Market is a crucial income stream for the St David’s Church community, and the congregation members will raise the money to buy the land themselves if they have to.
The triangular parcel of land, which sits at the end of Mossman’s main road Front Street next to the church, is part of a package of North Queensland properties owned by the Anglican Church which are set to be sold off by receivers SV partners to help pay for what is expected to be more than $20m in redress claims by survivors of sexual abuse.
The diocese has reportedly already paid out more than $9m and expects further claims of up to $15m across coming years.
About a half a dozen properties were put up for sale last month, with about a dozen more expected to go on the market soon, as well as others down the track if needed.
The Mossman Market operates every Saturday morning from 7am-1pm, while the about 35m-tall raintrees are classed as locally heritage listed by the National Trust after being introduced from Jamaica more than a century ago.
“These trees form an important landmark in the centre of historic Mossman, with which they are identified,” according to the Trust.
“They are associated with Rev Edward Taffs, Rector of St David’s, who came to the area in 1904 and Dan Hart, the first settler in the Mossman area.”