Some people say there are no real characters left in the Australian bush. Not so, say the authors of this investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a man and his dog at Larrimah in the Northern Territory.

Larrimah, a flyspeck on the map of the NT, is on the Stuart Highway south of Mataranka and north of Daly Waters. Many people drive straight through. I have, several times. But others stop at the Pink Panther Hotel, visit the small unmanned museum or have a Devonshire tea at the teahouse.

Irish-born Paddy Moriarty left the pub with his dog Kellie at dusk on 17 December 2017, for the short ride on his quad bike to his house. Neither he nor the dog have been seen since, despite extensive searches.

That story intrigued journalists Graham and Stevenson, who made the 2018 Walkley Award-winning podcast, ‘Lost in Larrimah’, but they decided that boots on the ground would help them write a book on the subject. By visiting Larrimah, they found that the 11 people living there feuded with each other; the pink pub’s menagerie included an eyeless croc; they were told lots of stories over lots of drinks; and they developed a real affection for the place and its people. They have evoked the outback heat in this account, as well as the dust. Their huge cast of bush characters presents as good, bad and just plain eccentric. They have included the wartime history of that part of the NT, and continued police puzzlement over Paddy’s disappearance. The man himself emerges as a story-telling enigma, well-liked but equally well-detested.

Larrimah is a top bush yarn, and even though we know that Paddy is still missing, with a $250 000 reward for information announced this year by NT Police, it is worth reading this book just to get to know the people of Larrimah … and that pink pub.

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Kylie Stevenson has 17 years’ experience as a journalist, her work appearing in newspapers, magazines and websites all over the country, including The Guardian Australia, The Australian, The Weekend Australian Magazine and numerous health, lifestyle and travel publications. Kylie was awarded the inaugural Andrew McMillan Writers Residency at Larrimah in 2016, and a resulting piece of creative non-fiction won a 2017 Northern Territory Literary Award. It was this residency that also sparked her interest in the town and ultimately led to her award-winning podcast Lost in Larrimah with Caroline Graham.

Visit Kylie Stevenson’s website

Caroline Graham has worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine writer, and now teaches journalism at Bond University on the Gold Coast. She has also facilitated the publication of major student-authored investigative packages in
The Guardian Australia, News Corp, APN Australian Regional Media and Crikey. Caroline is the co-author of Writing Feature Stories: How to research and write articles, from listicles to longform.