What happened to Paddy? The big mystery puzzling a tiny town

TRUE CRIME: Larrimah, Caroline Graham and Kylie Stevenson, Allen & Unwin, $32.99

“The outback has a way of swallowing bodies,” observe the authors of this enthralling book, which must be one of the most eagerly anticipated true-crime titles in recent times. In December 2017, when the average temperature is above 40 degrees, Paddy Moriarty vanished from his home at Larrimah, a tiny settlement in the Northern Territory located in one of the most inhospitable parts of Australia.

The mystery of what became of the dog-loving, Irish-born bushie with a twinkle in his eye, a distinctive hat and thick moustache, huge thirst for XXXX beer and an alleged appetite for mischief-making captured worldwide interest in a similar way to the tragic cases of Azaria Chamberlain and Peter Falconio, the remains of whom likewise have not been found.

Paddy Moriarty and canine friend seen on the cover of a book by David Darcy about blokes and dogs.Credit:

One key point of difference from those cases is that Paddy was not a tourist but a local who had lived among crocodiles, poisonous snakes and spiders for half a century. Another dissimilarity is that no one has been charged in relation to his disappearance, although there is a suggestion in this book that the police believe he was murdered and may have surmised the killer’s identity.

As far as police and other expert opinion is concerned, so much that points towards foul play turns on the fact that Paddy’s dog, Kellie, disappeared at the same time. There was a delay of several days in reporting Paddy missing that may have been critical to the search for clues. The scene at his house suggested that he had just popped outside for a moment. Everything was in order and nothing was missing. He was never seen without his hat, and yet apparently it had been left behind.

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A hard-drinking town festering with labyrinthine feuds that swoons in the heat and is drenched during the wet season, Larrimah existed in a time-warp. There were no children or young people. The town had no mobile phone coverage and no CCTV. The nearest police station is more than 70 kilometres away.

Catherine Graham and Kylie Stevenson liken the mystery of Paddy’s disappearance as the outback equivalent to the classic “locked-room” scenario in a golden age detective novel associated with authors such as Agatha Christie, though that analogy doesn’t really hold up. For one thing, Poirot or Miss Marple typically has the body in the room to work with, but Paddy’s remains are completely absent.

More importantly, the locked-room crime novel typically has a strictly limited range of suspects all with seemingly strong motives to have murdered the deceased. Possible explanations for what happened to Paddy involve outside factors such as the intervention of an unknown person from Paddy’s past and/or the dangers and peculiarities of the landscape and wildlife.

Larrimah is such a small community – 12 residents when Paddy went missing - that the slightest movement of anyone could be noticed yet apparently no one saw anything. His body may have been disposed of in any number of ways, including being fed to a crocodile or scavenged by wild pigs, or he could have fallen into one the area’s many sinkholes.

Graham and Stevenson are experienced journalists who collaborated on the award-wining podcast Lost in Larrimah. They examine the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty from every important angle.

Among many fascinating aspects is how the case generated considerable interest in Ireland given Paddy’s background. It seems he was born out of wedlock in County Limerick and was a foster child. The circumstances of his arrival in Australia in the 1960s as a teenager remain obscure.

The more speculative theories surrounding Paddy’s disappearance include the notion that he took the place meant for someone else travelling to Australia, which gave rise to a grudge that was carried for half a century leading to his murder. One far-fetched theory has it that Paddy’s death was related somehow to the Troubles and possible former involvement with the IRA.

Sadly, a number of Irish people have learned that Paddy was a relative whose existence they were unaware of until after it was too late.

The coroner’s inquest has been adjourned indefinitely and the police investigation remains open. Unless there is some major new development, a solution is unlikely. “This is a country full of buried things – treasures and secrets, layered in bulldust,” the authors remind us.

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