News vans and journalists jostle for position outside a courthouse in regional Victoria where accused death cap mushroom cook Erin Patterson is on trial for murder.
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In the drizzly town of Morwell, 135 kilometres east of Melbourne in the heart of Victoria's Gippsland region, locals are eager to chit-chat about the trial making international headlines.
A handful of people even cruise up and down the street outside Latrobe Valley Courthouse, striking up conversations with reporters and sharing their two cents, just happy to be part of the frenzy.
In Morwell - a town that once boomed off the back of brown coal - the media influx is a rare event.
Zofia Graham, who has lived in Morwell since 1989, said the town had undergone "incredible changes".
A major power plant north of the town, Hazelwood Power Station, was privatised and then closed in 2017.
"A lot of people have moved on, you walk around downtown and there's just so many empty shops," she said.
House prices in Latrobe Valley reflect this downturn. The median house sale price, $412,000, is almost half the median of surrounding regions in 2023.
In neighbouring Baw Baw, the median house sale price is $613,000, in the Yarra Ranges it's $810,000, and in South Gippsland it's $578,000.
Local newsagent and former political candidate Ray Burgess said the town hasn't rebounded economically or socially since the power station was decommissioned.
"When they shut down the power station, we lost a massive amount of jobs," he said.
That slowing effect continued through the COVID-19 lockdowns. "People have been working from home more and not coming downtown."
But he said "people that have lived here for a long time are passionate about their town".
Cafe owner Tod Jamse, who runs Cont in the town centre, said people in the community "take care" of each other.
"I love Morwell because it's really authentic, it's really community-based, everyone knows everyone and everyone supports and looks after each other," he said.
He said that despite the coal-town exterior, Morwell has a "massive queer, artist community".
"Lots of musicians come from Gippsland," he said.
The evidence is dotted around his queer-friendly cafe, from tongue-in-cheek stickers to a wax candle shaped as a vagina.
"Our main focus is creating a safe space," he said. "It's great."
Anna Houlahan
Anna Houlahan reports on crime and social issues affecting regional and remote Australia in her role as national crime reporter at Australian Community Media (ACM). She was ACM’s Trainee of the Year in 2023 and, aside from reporting on crime, has travelled the country as a journalist for Explore Travel Magazine. Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
