Our Team

John Ferguson is an Associate Editor of The Australian and has been a multi-award winning journalist for 40 years. He has filed scoops including the charging – and later acquittal – of George Pell with child sex crimes and the mushroom poisoning case and reported across the globe. He covers politics, crime and social affairs and has interviewed four prime ministers and reported on 13 premiers. He is a former News Ltd Europe correspondent and Canberra chief political reporter and was Victorian Editor of The Australian.

@fergusonjw

Latest

Mushrooms murder trialNation

Police catalogue hundreds of books from family home

The mushrooms murder trial sat for its 30th day on Wednesday. It was also Day 7 of Erin Patterson giving evidence.

John Ferguson

Mushrooms murder trialNation

MORWELL, AUSTRALIA- NewsWire Photos JUNE 2, 2025: Court sketch of accused mushroom cook killer Erin Patterson in the Supreme Court, Latrobe Valley. Picture: NewsWire / Anita Lester

Sharp clash over gastric surgery evidence

By the time it’s all over, the prosecution and defence will have trawled through every possible development linked to the mushroom meal that killed three people.

John Ferguson

Mushrooms murder trialNation

3 June 2025; a photo comp of Erin Patterson and death cap mushrooms. Artwork by Emilia Tortorella. Sources: supplied and iStock. Ratio 4:3.

‘Been a rollercoaster’: Erin Patterson’s weight struggles laid bare in court

Erin Patterson spent much of week six of the mushrooms murder trial in the witness box. This is what happened when she was asked about her weight.

John Ferguson

MUSHROOM MURDER TRIALNation

Erin Patterson ‘unsure’ if she told lunch guests she needed chemo for fake cancer

The accused mushroom killer has rejected suggestions she hoped she would never have to justify her ovarian cancer claims because she believed her lunch guests would die.

John Ferguson and Ellie Dudley

Mushroom murder trialNation

Erin Patterson, the homeowner of where the fatal lunch took place, arrived at her Leongatha property on Monday afternoon. Three people have died from eating mushrooms Picture: Brooke , Grebert-Craig.

Erin tells all and it’s hard to stomach

Day 26 of the mushrooms trial delivers more on Erin Patterson’s alleged eating disorder and the accused’s case of getting caught short.

John Ferguson

Mushroom murder trialNation

A handout sketch received from the Supreme Court of Victoria on April 29, 2025 shows Erin Patterson, an Australian woman accused of murdering three people with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington, as she faces trial in a case that has grabbed global attention. Patterson, 50, who will be tried in the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morwell, south of Melbourne, is charged with three murders -- including both of her parents-in-law -- and one attempted murder. She has pleaded not guilty to all counts. (Photo by Paul Tyquin / SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT

Cook Erin Patterson foraged for mushrooms during Covid

Erin Patterson has detailed to her mushroom murder trial her affection for fungi and accepts she served death cap mushrooms to her three dead guests.

John Ferguson

Murder trialNation

*File image* Erin Patterson in Melbourne, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AAP Image/James Ross) NO ARCHIVING

Two years after the mushroom meal, Erin Patterson’s court time

Erin Trudi Patterson was sitting in the witness box, gently swivelling her chair when her silk Colin Mandy confirmed to the court his client would be giving evidence in the mushrooms murder trial.

John Ferguson

Mushroom murder trialNation

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA- NewsWire Photos MAY 28, 2025: The defence team (front Lawyer Bill Doogue and Colin Mandy leave court in Morwell for the Erin Patterson's trial over the alleged poisoning deaths of three people with a beef wellington. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

Silk facing long run home as murder trial grinds on

The mushroom murder trial ends its fifth week on Friday, with Erin Patterson’s silk questioning the lead detective.

John Ferguson

commentaryCommentary

MORWELL, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - 27 MAY, 2025: Detective Stephen Eppingstall departs from the Latrobe Valley Court in Morwell. Picture: NewsWire / Diego Fedele

The fungi detective, shopping lists and the hard slog of shoe-leather sleuthing

Erin Patterson shops at Woolworths. We know that because the mushroom detective told us so.

John Ferguson

Trial sketchNation

Mushroom detective ‘star’ of police probe

There were three people in the police interview room but only two mattered – Erin Patterson as the suspect and a smiling detective called Stephen Eppingstall.

John Ferguson

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/john-ferguson/page/3