Thanks to a smash hit show on Netflix, there’s a new spot for the Illawarra’s grey nomads to pull into on their annual trek across Australia’s outback this year.
That place is Larrimah – transformed in the past six months from total obscurity to international fame and notoriety after the release of a bizarre two-part docu-drama that has taken the world by storm.
The show’s timing is perfect. In recent years Australian crime fiction thrillers (The Dry, Scrublands, Dirt Town, Ripper) have created a whole new genre – Outback Noir. It is partly this fascination with an isolated world most people have, and never will experience, that’s made Last Stop Larrimah so appealing.
LSL is regularly sitting in the top spot for Australia’s most watched Netflix shows while also reaching the top 10 in Britain and scoring huge viewer numbers in the US.
Not since the film Crocodile Dundee has the world’s attention been focused on the bizarre way of life and the eccentric characters who live in the Aussie outback.
Australia’s latest real-life murder mystery captures the story of the disappearance of local larrikin Paddy Moriarty in 2017, after a night out at the local pub.
A visit to Larrimah is a must
To better understand why the Netflix/HBO show has everyone talking, you really have to visit Larrimah.
At the time of filming, Larrimah’s population was 11. The publican at the local Pink Panther hotel that featured so prominently in the show, Stephen Baldwin (who didn’t feature in the TV show, having bought the pub in 2018, the year after Paddy’s disappearance), reckons the hamlet’s number of permanent residents now number in single figures.
Finding myself with a spare day during a visit to the Top End, I arrived in Larrimah at the height of the the wet season. The 431-kilometre drive south from Darwin on the Stuart Highway is made a little faster due to the 130km/hour speed limit on many long stretches of road.
You could almost see the tumbleweeds rolling down the road as I pulled in next to the pub. In the two hours or so I spent there, I was the only person who came to the hamlet’s only watering hole.
As Stephen explained, "No one comes to Larrimah in the wet season." Truth be known, even in the dry (peak grey nomad season) most people drive their caravans straight past on their way north towards Mataranka, Katherine and Darwin, or south to Tenant Creek, Uluru and Alice Springs. There’s never been a reason to stop at Larrimah – until now!
Larrimah will ‘never be the same again’
Stephen believes Last Stop Larrimah will change the place forever, as he fields lots of enquiries and readies himself for an influx of visitors, preparing the caravan park and motel he manages right next to the pub.
"This place will never be the same again," he said.
Everyone loves a good murder mystery, and they don’t come much better than the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty, who vanished without a trace on 16 December 2017.
Signs along the Stuart Highway and at the pub are still seeking public assistance to find Paddy’s killer. One of those signs is on the fence outside Paddy’s humble home (now vacant), which has been listed for sale, having been held by the NT’s Public Trustee since Paddy’s disappearance. An onsite auction date has been set for 7 May 2024.
Murder remains unresolved
The inquest into Paddy’s death was inconclusive but it found he was likely killed "due to the ongoing feud he had with his nearest neighbours".
Local pie maker Pam, who featured prominently in the show, has returned to Larrimah after undergoing cancer treatment in Melbourne. Publican Stephen said she’s keeping pretty much to herself. He also said three of the eccentric characters featured in Last Stop Larrimah, Bill, Barry and Dave, are now deceased.
Despite this, Stephen remains optimistic about Larrimah’s future.
Preparing for a tourism boom
In fact, with the dry almost upon us, the entrepreneurial hotel owner is preparing for something of a tourism boom as tens of thousands of nomadic road warriors hitch their vans and hit the road over the next few months.
Over a steak sandwich and a beer at his pub, Stephen showed me designs for new merchandise he’s about to launch online. The T-shirts, stubby holders and caps unashamedly promote the remote destination as the scene of ‘Murder Downunder’ and prominently feature many of the characters from the show.
"We’ve had plenty of interest from all over the world and for those who can’t get here we’ll soon be shipping our merch everywhere," Stephen said.
Larrimah Museum visit is a must
Wearing the hat as Larrimah’s unofficial tourism officer, Stephen will happily guide tourists – as he did with me – to the fascinating museum across the road from his pub. And it really is worth the visit.
It tells the story of the district’s boomtime during World War Two when the RAAF built an air strip just north of Larrimah (safely out of reach of Japanese aircraft) and it became the major aircraft and vehicle maintenance depot for the Northern Territory.
At the height of the war, nearly 300 aircraft used Gorrie Airfield and the area was home to 6000 servicemen and women.
This period saw the birth of Larrimah, the building of the Stuart Highway linking Adelaide and Darwin, and the transfer of the railhead to nearby Birdum, which became the main base for those engaged in the war effort.
At war’s end, Birdum ceased to exist. The Birdum hotel closed and it was finally relocated in its original form to Larrimah in 1957.
Since its relocation to Larrimah, the pub, originally known as the Wayside Inn, has had a number of name changes: The Giant Stubby, Lake Larrimah, the Larrimah Zoo and the Pink Panther, as it’s still known today. It’s a quirky outback history but once you’re there it really gets you in.
As I drove out of Larrimah with a slight sense of disappointment that I hadn’t solved the mystery of Paddy’s murder during my too brief visit, there was also a feeling of satisfaction that I can count myself as one of the first tourists to make my way to that isolated but now famous remote community.
