The country town is best known for its koalas and for producing one of Australia’s most recognisable fashion names, supermodel Miranda Kerr. Now, however, it is confronting a set of allegations so disturbing they have stunned the community.
Gunnedah, a usually quiet and prosperous farming and mining centre on the north-western plains of New South Wales, is the hometown of a 32-year-old mother accused over the death and alleged cannibalism of a four-year-old boy.
The case drew international attention after the woman went to a police station in Wyong, on the NSW Central Coast, at about 4.40pm on Saturday, July 4, and reported that her son had died. Police allege she also made remarks about eating his arm.
Known locally as “Gun”, Gunnedah has been deeply unsettled by the claims. The allegations appear to have caused rifts within the woman’s family, whose members live across several nearby streets in the town of about 13,000 people, surrounded by thick eucalyptus bushland.
Several relatives of the mother — who cannot be named because of legal restrictions protecting the identity of child victims — said they were utterly shocked when they spoke with the Daily Mail last week.
“There’s nothing like that ever been in our family,” the accused woman’s great-aunt said of the cannibalism allegation, speaking from her Gunnedah living room on Thursday.
The relative said the woman was known within the broader family to have “had problems” during adulthood, but insisted no one could have foreseen allegations of this nature.
“Is it really true?” she asked.
The mum, 32, has been charged over the murder of her four-year-old son. Police are investigating whether she ate part of his arm in the aftermath of his death
Gunnedah, a peaceful and wealthy agricultural and mining hub in the north-western plains of New South Wales, is the family home of a 32-year-old mum accused of the death and cannibalism of a four-year-old boy
‘There’s nothing like that ever been in our family,’ the accused’s great aunt said of the cannibalism claim, during an interview with this reporter in her Gunnedah living room on Thursday
Residents and shopkeepers in the town centre this week told the Mail they had heard the extraordinary claims and were coming to terms with a person from ‘Gun’ being allegedly involved.
It carries particular weight as this is the third significant crime to echo through Gunnedah in recent years. Most horrifically, a 14-year-old girl murdered 10-year-old Biddy Porter during a psychotic episode on July 8, 2020.
Grisly detail was laid bare at a coronial inquest held just weeks ago.
And earlier this year, a man pleaded not guilty to murdering his mother in a local caravan park in October 2024 – a second death to shake the community.
‘Cannibalism’ accused divides family
The woman’s brother admitted to the Daily Mail this week that their father and an older half-brother had agonised over whether they ‘could have stepped in’ to help the accused mother.
‘They thought maybe they should have done something more,’ he told the Mail, noting there was a sign of instability in her life when she recently ditched her supermarket job.
‘When she said she gave up her job at Coles – that says a lot, doesn’t it, when someone gives up their job.’
The accused mum’s closest brother (above in Gunnedah this week) said he had texted with his sister last week just before the alleged murder and cannibalism allegations
Gunnedah was shaken when Biddy Porter, 10, was killed by a 14-year-old in 2020 – the tragedy echoiing through the community during recent coronial inquest hearings
The woman’s great-aunt said: ‘I remember her as a little girl. She had problems … later on.
‘The little boy, my sister’s grandson, used to stay here, but I don’t know much about him or what is being said now.
‘We were shocked to find out about it (the cannibalism allegations).’
One of the accused mum’s last neighbours in Gunnedah, JG, told the Mail that she had seemed ‘a nice girl’ but ‘my husband thought she was into drugs.
‘She had a couple of fellas over who then were taken away by ambulance and she seemed to be always going walkabout from the house.
‘I’m sad to hear what has happened.’
NSW Police Aboriginal liaison officers are helping the family come to terms with the tragedy and the enormity of the allegations.
One liaison officer who attended the home of an older male relative in Gunnedah told the Mail the service was supplying personal assistance to the family, saying ‘now is a difficult time for them.’
NSW Police Aboriginal Liaison Officers (above) are counselling members of the accused cannibal mum’s family. One relative said this week that he believed other family members had treated the woman ‘like a mongrel dog’
At the Local Aboriginal Land Council, the Indigenous flag was at half-mast. Asked about the boy and his mother, an officer declined to comment.
The woman had moved to Wyong – some four hours’ drive east from Gunnedah – with her son about five months ago, according to reports, because they were escaping domestic violence, moving into a community housing complex.
The woman’s brother told the Mail that the move had been encouraged by social services after the mother had emerged from her last stint in rehab.
Mother and son largely kept to themselves at the Central Coast location, but the little boy was allowed to go to birthday parties in the area.
During a press conference this week, authorities revealed that social services had three interactions with the boy over concerns about neglect and his mother’s suspected drug-induced psychosis.
They ultimately decided to leave him with her until his death.
According to court documents seen by the Daily Mail, police allege the mother killed her son between 4pm and 5pm on July 4.
She was charged with murder and appeared in court last Saturday, when bail was formally refused.
Her case is due back in Wyong Local Court on September 1.
