Last Stop Larrimah: Murder Down Under

• Directed and Edited by Thomas Tancred
• March 11, 2023 (SXSW) / October 8, 2023 (HBO)

Following the disappearance of Larrimah, Northern Territory resident Paddy Moriarty, the remaining residents become suspects.

Last Stop Larrimah: Murder Down Under was not something I set out to watch for this blog. I just wanted background noise having grown tired of listening to music and also having had my fill of random YouTube documentaries from official channels and put this on. Within minutes, I found myself hooked by the unique individuals that lived in the town. 

This documentary is as much about the murder as it is about the characters (and I do mean ‘characters’) that populate a barely existing Australian town that one describes as ‘not in the middle of nowhere but in the middle of everywhere.’ Quite the wordsmith there!

You get a little history on the town and how it once had a bit of a life by being the last stop before travelers hit nothing and now because of technology and the times is not quite what it once was. It certainly serves to explain why such unique people would settle there.

Larrimah gained this attention after the disappearance Irish expatriate Paddy Moriarty who liked to poke the bear with just about everybody. On the surface it seems like a very chummy place but archival footage from a news fluff piece along with present day interviews show a heavy amount of animosity amongst residents. It is a very complicated web of dislike.

This is one of those things that could only happen in Australia in the way it happened. And it could’ve only happened in a town like this. Last Stop Larrimah is very much a slice of Australian a life in everything it shows. This is a group of people that would be hard to replicate for a scripted series. Unique personalities that entertain separately and clash together.

Despite their problems, they all speak very highly of the smallest of small towns. It is a special world to them that has a warm place in their heart even if their personal experience did ultimately prove to have some negative aspects. Small-town pride if you will despite its flaws.

There is a mix of bitterness, spitefulness, and even pathos in the film as they tell the story of the town AND the murder. The citizens tend to skewer themselves and undercut their own character in what they say. You begin to see they all might have had a desire to kill somebody there and not just the missing Paddy. Nobody hides their grudges.

It keeps you hooked with its quirky natural and strange vibe. The aesthetics of the pub and crocodile alone caught my attention. Not only is this a story of a strange town but it is of what happens when a person has too much time and are isolated from the world.

Despite it being about a murder, and what looks to be the disintegration of a town, it gets hopeful and tries to end on a positive note with a recap of how the people are doing now. Some are far better than others but hidden in all that is the hint that all may not be lost. Larrimah, as it once was may be gone but not completely. The hotel which was the town hall and the center of life gets sold but is bought by a young couple who just had a baby. It says there’s a tomorrow that may be a little bit of a different with a little bit of a different flavor. 

I found myself hooked by this bit of accidental viewing. I wanted some background noise, and instead found a captivating documentary about life and death and people in Last Stop Larrimah: Murder Down Under.