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Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Daily Mail
It looks like an ordinary outback pub - but it hides a chilling secret and it's now for sale
An infamous Aussie outback pub at the centre of an eight-year cold case disappearance of a controversial local has gone on sale. The Larrimah Hotel, which is situated in the Northern Territory, about 500km south of Darwin, has been put up for sale for the first time since it was featured in a Netflix series focusing on the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty. Irish-born Mr Moriarty, 70, and his red kelpie cross Kellie were last seen leaving the pub, also known as the Pink Panther Hotel, on December 16, 2017, headed for his home 280m away. Netflix crime series Last Stop Larrimah and the award-winning podcast, Lost in Larrimah, explored the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Mr Moriarty, who was a regular at the pub when he went missing. Publican Steve Baldwin purchased the pub from Barry Sharpe in 2018, just months after Mr Moriarty went missing. The property, which is listed for $795,000, comes with two emus and two crocodiles called Sneaky Sam and Agro that live out the back of the hotel. Mr Baldwin told newswire the pub was a great business opportunity with many visitors passing through to find out more about the mysterious disappearance. 'You don't often get a 100-year-old building here in the tropics, or in the Territory, or one at the centre of a Netflix series, and he still hasn't been found,' he said. 'There was a reward of $250,000 to find out what happened to Paddy Moriarty, and in the budget last week the treasurer upped it to $500,000.' Investigators suspect Mr Moriarty's disappearance was linked to a feud with his neighbours. Larrimah had a population of just 12 people when Mr Moriarty disappeared and this has now shrunk to eight. Within two weeks of his disappearance, police installed recording devices on local man Owen Laurie's home. In 2022, an inquest heard alleged recordings from Mr Laurie's Larrimah home, in which a voice was heard saying: 'F***ing killed Paddy, hit him on the head. 'Smacked him on the f***ing nostrils with my claw hammer' and 'I killerated old Paddy… I struck him on the f***ing head and killerated the bastard… basherated him'. Mr Laurie denied the voice was his. The inquest also heard details of a feud between Mr Moriarty and Frances Hodgetts, who he had worked as a caretaker and gardener for. Ms Hodgetts, who ran Fran's Teahouse, allegedly suspected Mr Moriarty of repeatedly poisoning her plants. The inquest heard that she had warned Moriarty off, saying: 'If anyone touches my garden, it will be the first murder in Larrimah.' In April 2022, NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh said that although Mr Moriarty's death was 'not able to be determined', he suspected foul play. 'In my opinion Paddy was killed in the context of and likely due to the ongoing feud he had with his nearest neighbours,' his findings read. After renewed interest in the case following the Netflix documentary, Northern Territory Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) announced in June last year that it will not lay any charges. 'The DPP has determined that there is insufficient evidence to make out a charge against any person in relation to the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty,' it said. 'No further comment will be provided by the DPP at this time.' The Larrimah Hotel is being sold by real estate agent Warren Andrews. In the listing, he describes the property as containing everything you would want in a 'true blue Aussie bush pub'. Mr Baldwin suggested the pub would make a great investment opportunity for the future due to the Beetaloo gas project, which will see a huge gas field developed in Northern Australia.
News.com.au
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
A famous Aussie pub at the centre of Netflix's true crime series Last Stop Larrimah hits the market
An infamous Aussie pub at the centre of an eight-year-old outback mystery and a Netflix series that gripped the world has hit the market. The Larrimah Hotel in the Northern Territory is for sale for the first time since the popular two-part series was released in 2023. The show delved into the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty who was one of town's 12 residents and a regular at the pub when he went missing. The Irish-born 70-year-old was last seen with his red kelpie cross Kellie leaving the Pink Panther Hotel in Larrimah on December 16, 2017. Publican Steve Baldwin bought the pub from Barry Sharpe in 2018 not long after Mr Moriarty went missing. The hotel is located about 500km south of Darwin in the middle of the Northern Territory along the Stuart Highway and is a popular stopover for travellers and tourists keen to know more about the town where Mr Moriarty disappeared. Real estate agent Warren Andrews is selling the property listed for $795,00 saying, 'You have to see it to believe it'. He describes the hotel as everything you would expect and want in a 'true blue Aussie bush pub.' 'From the pink panthers, the giant draught stubble, to the resident emus and crocodiles, this pub is steeped in history and mystique,' he said. Mr Baldwin told NewsWire there was more to the pub's history than the tale about one of its most regular punters disappearing. 'The pub will be 100 years old in five years, it was created during the war by the military and played a big part,' he said. 'We're at the end of the railway line from Darwin, where a lot of troops would come from down from, then go south to Alice Springs and then to Mount Isa and end up back here on the train. 'They built an airstrip here after the bombing in Darwin. 'There were nearly 10,000 people here which is huge, now there is eight.' Mr Baldwin said three of its residents had died since Last Stop Larrimah first aired on Netflix. 'They were all geriatrics,' he said. 'According to Carl, who was in the Netflix show and lived across the road, he reckons there was no beer on tap here for about 30 years,' he said. 'There were taps in the cool room when I got here that weren't being used so we opened the place up and rebuilt the bar.' Mr Baldwin said it was hard to quantify how many visitors passed through the hotel each year but more and more people stopped to find out more about the mysterious town. He said a new gas plant in the Beetaloo Basin was due to start soon which would bring more workers to the region. The pub also comes with two crocodiles called Sneaky Sam and Agro that live out the back of the hotel and are fed by Mr Baldwin. 'We say we are selling the crocs and we'll chuck in the pub,' he said. When asked how much a crocodile was worth, Mr Baldwin replied, '$795,000.' 'I just want to slow down a bit and retire,' he said. 'It's a good opportunity for a low level entry into a good business that has lots of opportunity going forward. 'You don't often get a 100-year-old building here in the tropics, or in the Territory, or one at the centre of a Netflix series, and he still hasn't been found. 'There was a reward of $250,000 to find out what happened to Paddy Moriarty, and in the budget last week the treasurer upped it to $500,000. 'I don't know it will ever be solved, and the old publican has died. 'Fran still lives here, she's 81 years old now, she'll stand on the balcony or come in here and say, 'He's leaving, don't go missing now'.'
ABC News
13-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Green light for cotton, hay and melons in Larrimah after controversial water licence approved
A cotton, hay, melon and mango farm to be planted around the tiny outback town of Larrimah has been given the green light to extract 10,000 megalitres of water under a licence strongly opposed by environmentalists and traditional owners. Planning documents show Larrimah Farms is proposing to irrigate 1,400 hectares of crops in fields both sides of the Stuart Highway surrounding the Northern Territory town. "If they've got their license now, that's great. They can now hook into it and get the dust flying," said Steve Baldwin, owner of the Larrimah Pink Panther Hotel. While it is not clear if the farmland would be visible from the road, Mr Baldwin said the "landscape" of Larrimah would change. "Farming land looks good. Active horticulture land looks good," he said. The town of Larrimah, five hours south of Darwin, has less than 10 residents but shot to international fame on the back of a wildly popular Netflix true crime documentary about the unsolved case of missing man Paddy Moriarity. Mr Baldwin said he hoped the new farming operation would bring jobs and renewal to the dwindling town. "That takes labour, that takes people arriving. They buy things they might need — accommodation, food, meals," he said. "I'm not sure what their plan is about location [and] if they're going to base people here. Ideally they will." The NT Land Corporation has previously suggested the project could bring "up to 60 jobs to Larrimah". Larrimah Farms director Jamie Schembri also owns farmland further north in Mataranka, about one hour away. The new Larrimah Farms licence is by far the largest in its water plan area. In the nearby Indigenous community of Jilkminggan, Mangarrayi woman Cecilia Lake said the decision to approve the licence was "heartbreaking". "We're the people that live on the land. That's our water and we want it there," Ms Lake said. A submission against the licence was signed by 78 residents of the remote community on the banks of the Roper River which is charged by the springs that bubble up from the Tindal Limestone Aquifer. Ms Lake said her community had already noticed degradation of local springs and creeks from existing agricultural extraction and were fearful of the impact of a new, large licence. The NT government's reports on the aquifer have expressed confidence that the southern zone around Larrimah can handle more extraction without impacting the northern zone which feeds the famous Mataranka hot springs and the Roper River. "No, Larrimah is just there," Ms Lake said, referring to how close the locations were. "Larrimah isn't too far away from Jilkminggan … and Mataranka. "We're all connected." Nearby pastoralists Kate and Jake Nelder of Gorrie Station were also cautious about new extraction from the aquifer. "I'd rather they didn't tamper with it at all but industry does have to go ahead. And I think as long as they do it well then there shouldn't be any problems." Kate Nelder said the impact of the new licence on the "pristine" groundwater should be carefully monitored. "Let's keep eyes on it," she said. "If things are going downhill let's not be afraid to have the discussion again and go 'is this working?'" The NT Controller of Water Resources, Andrew Johnson, said because the water licence slowly ramped up over seven years there would be chances to check the impact. "If the groundwater level drops below certain trigger levels then the proponent has to go back and have a look at their modelling, and if necessary obviously move where they're pumping from or change the rate at which they're pumping," he said. The cotton industry and the NT government have long argued that the territory's nascent cotton industry is low impact because most of the crop is grown without irrigation, only using the rainwater that falls in the wet season. In response to a Four Corners report on the industry last August, Cotton Australia released a statement saying NT cotton was "95 per cent rain fed". It said that of 12,982 hectares planted in the NT at the time only 575ha was irrigated. The NT Environment Centre said the new Larrimah licence to irrigate 800ha of cotton was "exposing claims that 'the cotton industry would be rainfed' as lies." "It's time for the government and industry to come clean about the massive risks posed to Top End rivers from this thirsty industry," the centre's executive director Kirsty Howey said. Larrimah Farms director Jamie Schembri did not respond to a request for comment.
