Winters in the Gypsland region of Victoria are known to be chili. Frost is a frequent visitor overnight, and the days often fall.

But in the small town of Korumburra – a part of Australia surrounded, surrounded by rolling hills – this is not just the weather that is sad; The mood here is clearly subdued.

Korumburra is the place where all Erin Patterson victims built their homes. Don and Gayle Patterson, his in -laws, lived there since 1984. He brought his four children to a city of 5,000. Gayle’s sister Heather Wilkinson lived nearby – her husband Ian was a pastor in the local baptist church.

Four was invited to Erin’s house on 29 July 2023 for a family lunch, which will live only after a liver implants and weeks after weeks.

And on Monday, a jury dismissed Erin’s claim, he accidentally served his guests to toxic mushrooms, convicted by three cases of murder and one of the attempt to murder.

His 10-week trial created a huge stir globally, but here they do not want to talk about it in Korumburra. They want to return to their lives after being difficult for just two years.

The cattle farmer and councilor told the BBC for the poet Nathan Harsi, “It is not easy to go through a mourning process … and this is not especially easy when so much attention has been paid.”

“There is now an opportunity for many people to stop something.”

Local people are fiercely loyal – he is one of the few people who are ready to explain what is for many people in the region.

“This is the kind of place you can hug in a very hurry and is designed to feel that you are part of it,” they explain.

And those who were killed clearly helped to create that environment.

All a certain generation people in the city were taught by former school teacher Don Patterson: “You will hear many people talking to Dawn very hobby, about the effect they had.

“He was also a great teacher and a really attractive person.”

And Mr. Haresy says that he has heard many stories, many of Heather and Gayle’s generosity and kindness.

The Korumburra Baptist Church is a small statement pinned to the noticeboard that pays homage to the trio, “very special people who loved God and preferred to bless others”.

“We all remember Heather, Dawn and Gayle a lot whether we were friends for a short time or over 20 years,” reads it.

It is not just Korumburra that has been replaced by the tragedy.

This part of the rural Victoria is dotted with small towns and haemlets, which may first look quite isolated.

The reality is that they are held simultaneously by close relationships – relationships that fall in this case.

In a nearby outtrim, residents of Nielsen Street – an unmatched gravel road hosting for a handful of houses – is abandoned by prosecution, claimed that their gardens may have produced murder weapons.

It was one of the two places, where the death cap mushroom was seen and posted on a civil science website Inaturalist. Pointing to the cell phone tracking data, the prosecution alleged that Erin Patterson went into the forezer for both deadly fungi.

“Everyone knows someone who has been affected by the matter,” Ian Thoms told the BBC from his small farm on Nielson Street.

He closes his list. His son is a police detective. His wife works with the daughter of the only survivor Ian. His neighbor is a good friend with “Funky Tom”, the famous mushroom expert called the prosecution – by coincidentally the person who posted the fungus’ philosophy here.

Another 15 -minute takes down the road, where Erin Patterson’s house sits between other huge properties on an unexpected lane.

She bought a land of land here with a generous heritage from her mother and assuming that she would stay here forever.

It has been sitting empty for about 18 months, telling the over -elements to keep a sign out at the gate. A neighbor’s sheep leaves the grass to cut the grass.

This week, the livestock had gone, and a black Tarapalin was built around the carport and the entrance of his house.

There is a feeling of conspiracy between some neighbors, but also very tired. Every day the Gockers goes under the lane to see the place where the tragic food was held. A neighbor also said that he saw a tour bus tround in front of the house.

“When you live in a local city, you know the name – it is interesting to follow,” Emma Buckland says, which stops to talk to us in the main road.

“It’s bizarre,” her mother says Gabrielle Stephanie. “Nothing like that [ever] That’s why it is almost difficult to believe it. ,

The conversation turns into mushroom forging.

“We have grown up on the farm. Even there are always mushrooms on the front lawn and you know which you can be and what cannot eat,” says Ms. Bakalland. “This is something you know.”

The city felt the effect of the case in recent months, however, is the peacock; The administrative capital of the city of Latrobe and where the test is heard.

Local journalist Liam Durkin says, “We have seen Morwell, which is usually a very sleepy city, comes into life.”

He edits the weekly Latrobe Valley Express newspaper, whose office is just around the corner.

“I never thought that I am preferring fungal experts and finally weeks, but here we are,” they say.

“I don’t think anything like this has ever happened, and they can never be well again in the peacock.”

Despite not being distant by the Australian standards, the peacock is still on a two -hour drive from Melbourne, the second largest city in the country. It seems to be removed from the Victorian capital – and often forget.

Peacock Mill by Erin Patterson in July 2023 – the last manufacturer of Australia’s white paper and several local jobs provider – shutdown. Earlier, many more people lost their jobs when the nearby power station closed.

The old people here have fought to find work; Others have left to find more attractive options in states such as Queensland.

So local people say that now it is a bit bizarre to emphasize the spotlight.

In the J. Dias Coffee shop in front of the police station and court, Laura Heller states that she usually makes about 150 coffee a day. Recently it is almost double.

“There are many mixed feelings about it [the trial]”She says.

There has been a large -scale growth for many businesses, but the case has also revived the long -held partition in the community when it comes to police and justice systems, she explains.

“The city is greatly affected by crime, but it is a very different type of crime,” Ms. Heller says, mentioning drugs and youth as an example.

“Half a community really does not have much confidence in the police force and our magistrates.”

In Korumburra, what has been moved is his belief in humanity. It seems that many people around the world have lost the fact that this headline-making, meme-generating crime killed three people.

“Our local community lives, it has changed forever,” says Mr. Haresy.

“But I will ask for many people, it’s just like a pop culture.”

Although the worst situation has occurred in the community several times in the last two years, it also highlights the best, they say.

“We want to go as a community that has been strong and supported each other … instead of a place we now know that we are known for murder.”

Additional Reporting by Tiffany Turnbull