Last Stop Larrimah (Netflix) -- Australian Mumsnetters

[MermaidProject]

I'm the last person in the world to have seen Last Stop Larrimah (for anyone else who hasn't seen it, it's a two-part, true-crime documentary about the disappearance in 2017 of a 70 year old man in a remote, tiny community of 11 people in Australia's Northern Territory.)

What fascinated me was less the mystery of what happened to Paddy Moriarty than the characters of the people who lived in Larrimah. Without, or almost without exception, they seemed alcohol-dependent, quarrelsome and extremely misanthropic.

I wanted to ask Australian Mumsnetters how they see these people, because I've never been to Australia, and know nothing about it -- does living somewhere so small and remote inevitably make you get this way? Is that level of alcohol-dependency in any way normal for that kind of community, or was the film edited to make everyone look borderline alcoholic (it seemed as if there was barely an interview, photograph or piece of old film footage where everyone didn't have a can in their hand?) (I'm also from somewhere small, but the distances involved mean it's nowhere near as remote, and the houses are more scattered).

How did these people make a living, even enough to scrape by surely passing trade at Fran's pie shop and the pub can't have brought in enough to live on, even if Paddy Moriarty drank eight beers in the pub every day? I get that the people are poor,but are there any government benefits for those who live in tiny communities like these I mean, is there a reason to want to keep these communities in existence? I know it originally had a rationale as a railhead, but I mean since then.

I noticed everyone was white -- would there be a separate, Aboriginal community in the vicinity, or not?

Thanks to anyone with any responses. I was fascinated by it.

Argh, can't edit to remove accidental strike-through.

Not australian but I did work in the Northern Territory for a few years and even stayed at the Larrimah hotel a couple of times. There's not many choices so captive audience you might say.

First thing to say is the NT is vast, and vastly different to the big cities. It attracts people who are inclined to drop off the grid for whatever reason. There's a lot of alcohol sloshing around. Some people made their money elsewhere and go for a different outback life, others are up to no good and want to stay out of the limelight (though clearly not if they are in the doco!), then people like me go for the experience of living somewhere completely different.

I don't recall any communities immediately near by, but the road houses etc serve as hubs in these remote areas. Katherine is the nearest decent sized place and that's less than a couple of hours away, which in NT terms is nothing. Hard to explain but it's not a remote place in NT terms because it's on the highway.

I watched this recently and was also fascinated. What a wasps’ nest that place was.

Oh, and my experience was everyone drinking all of the time! There's a lot of light beer served that's around 3%, and you sweat like nothing I can describe thanks to the humidity so it kind of burns off? A cold beer on a stinking hot day is absolutely golden.

I watched this and also found it fascinating. Living somewhere like that is my idea of hell. I couldn't understand the couple who rocked up and decided to stay there a few years ago. (Also thought she had the creepiest smile ever...)

I watched this at Xmas - but I think I must have fallen asleep as I can't remember the ending 🤣 did they ever figure out what happened to him?

Sorry, had forgotten I posted this! @skintselfemployed -- they never solved it, no. The police said they accepted he had been murdered 'in the context of a feud with his immediate neighbours', but no one was charged and no body was found, nor any forensic trace.

@DogDaysNeverEnd, actually, that was another question I had how strong was the beer? I was also wondering about water supplies, their purity etc was it was easier and more palatable to drink something cold and sterile, like a can or beer, in a hot, dry climate? I think there was a reference to a dam locally?

That makes sense in terms of it being somewhere vast that attracts people who might want to 'drop out'.