Cookie’s house hits market in Larrimah
A home featured in Netflix true crime documentary ‘Last Stop Larrimah’ has hit the market, with the well-known owner forced to relocate due to failing health.
Cookie from Larrimah is selling his home after 20-odd years in the tiny NT town made famous by the unsolved disappearance of local character Paddy Moriarty.
Barry ‘Cookie’ Bourke gained fame when Kylie Stevenson and Caroline Graham put the Larrimah on the map with their podcast and book about the local Paddy Moriarty and his dog Kellie vanishing from a population of 12.
Then the Netflix documentary ‘Last Stop Larrimah’ introduced Cookie and his house to the world.
Back in Larrimah, where the population is about nine or 10 these days, Cookie couldn’t care less about his celebrity.
He’s just focused on selling up.
“I’ve got health issues so I’ve got to go,” he said.
“I’ve got sugar diabetes and they reckon my kidneys are buggered and I’ve got problems with my heart.”
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Cookie wants to head back to Tassie, where he originally hails from.
The road train driver said his girlfriend was waiting for him there – he just needs to get his home sold.
The house at 47 Railway Tce, Larrimah, has two bedrooms, one bathroom and a shed with awning.
The home is where Cookie’s interviews from Last Stop Larrimah were conducted.
Selling agent James Todd, of Elders Katherine, said the property hitting the market had generated an element of intrigue and curiosity because of the Netflix show, but most enquiries so date had been genuine.
“Enquiries have been many and varied,” he said.
“We’ve had a few locals enquiries and also a few interstate enquiries.
“The property is quiet appealing, particularly with the Beetaloo Basin looming.”
Cookie’s home is the first residential property to hit the market in Larrimah since Paddy’s Place was sold by the Public Trustee in May 2024, six years after his disappearance.
“I’ve had the property for about 20 years,” Cookie said.
“I was hoping to spend the rest of my life here, but unfortunately I can’t because of my health.
“I’ve done a lot to (the house) and I was hoping to do more.
“It’s got a lot of potential.”
Cookie said the property was an old railway house when he bought it.
“I put an extension on the front and the back, knocked all walls out and made it all into an open living area.
“The kitchen is about 16ft long and it’s all timber top from Darwin – African mahogany – and I’ve got two big mahogany (posts) and a beam in the house.
“There’s a veranda out the back where you can sit at night time and have a beer or have a barbecue.
“You can keep an eye on the kids in the backyard and there’s plenty of things for them to see – you’ve got kangaroos and goannas that come up to the house.
“I’ve seen a few perenties and frilled neck lizards in the garage.”
Cookie said he’d only had one snake in the house.
“It’s was a black snake but I caught him and chucked him out the door,” he said.
“He only got in because there was a hole in the screen door.”
There’s also been a few pythons pop in for a visit, but Cookie reckons they don’t really count.
“You’d be sitting there having dinner and they’d come on through,” he said.
“They’re harmless though and that was before I did the place up.”
Cookie said he’d be sad to say goodbye to Larrimah, but he didn’t have a choice.
“I’ve got some good memories from here,” he said.
“I used to play cricket down at the oval and had some good times at the hotel having a few drinks.”
Cookie said his place would suit anyone looking to escape the concrete jungle.
“It’s pretty quiet here but you’ve got your clinic at Mataranka and I head to Katherine to get my groceries,” he said.
“You can go fishing out to the Roper River and out to Borroloola and a lot of people go pig hunting.
“There’s lots of pigs and buffalo – buffalo meat is good to eat.”
Cookie said Larrimah was in the middle of everything – just 500km from Darwin, about 1000km from Western Australia, 900km from Queensland and 1200km from South Australia.
“There’s a bit of work around if you want it or you can potter around the house and do what you want,” he said.
The property at 47 Railway Tce, Larrimah, is for sale for $210,000 negotiable through James Todd and Emily Deeth of Elders Real Estate Katherine.
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