CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The town of Morwell has today returned to being a run-of-the-mill regional Victorian town, after spending three months at the centre of the Australian news cycle.
This comes after yesterday’s news that a jury in the Morwell Supreme Court has unanimously found the now infamous mushroom cook, Erin Patterson, 50, guilty of murdering three of her in-laws. She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of a fourth.
Patterson became a households name in the weeks after July 29, 2023 – when it became clear to Victorian police that three people had died after eating a sinister beef wellington that she had prepared for lunch at her home in Leongatha.
And the closest courthouse capable of hosting the trial of the century was Morwell – one hour and half north of the scene of the crime.
Outside of the occasional triple murder trial, Morwell is known for being a services hub with nice rose gardens.
But for the first half of 2025, it became a buzzing media mile. A transplanted hub of Australia’s major news networks.
For months, the Latrobe Valley Supreme Court hosted a crowd of journalists, family members, and absolute weirdo members of the public who were willing take the best part of half a year off work to follow every twist and turn that emerged during ‘the trial of the century’.
Morwell’s three motor inns was booked out every night. The pub played host to vast numbers of drunken journalists attempting to keep their long-distance marriages together one beer garden phone call at a time.
And the town’s Subway has never done bigger numbers than it did during court recess.
Today, with the result handed down and the town shrinking back to it’s off-season population, this now famous regional epicentre farewells the economic boom that comes with a bizarre triple murder that has captured the nation’s attention.
The Latrobe Valley council, and local business leaders, wait patiently.
Will Erin Patterson and her lawyers appeal this judgement?
Or will they simply have to wait until regional Victoria’s next obscene mass killing event for the good times to return.
