4 days ago
Erin Patterson mushroom deaths trial raises family pain of four poisoned children
The high-profile trial of mushroom poisoning killer Erin Patterson has brought up 160-year-old scars of four tragic deaths in SA's south east.
In May 1861, at Hynam — east of Naracoorte — Sophia, Charles, Emma and Susan Norris, aged between seven and one, died from poisoning after eating foraged wild mushrooms.
They were believed to have eaten Galerina marginata or funeral bell, which were commonly mistaken for edible honey mushrooms.
Noel Norris, whose grandfather was a sibling of the Norris children, said the tragedy stayed with the family for decades.
"It wasn't discussed very much for many years, because it was still pretty raw and tender, even after 100 years," he said.
"My grandfather would never speak of it.
"I did know about it but I didn't take it too seriously.
"It was almost told to me like a bit of a children's story."
Mr Norris and his wife searched for where the children were buried, eventually finding them in the Hynam cemetery in 2017.
The grave was marked out with a fence and a plaque telling the children's story.
"It must've been absolutely horrific and I think it left a scar on the Norris family, until now where we've been able to find the graves," he said.
Mr Norris said the recently completed trial of Erin Patterson in Victoria brought up some of the emotions.
"It brings it back to mind, but our story has been basically put to rest," he said.
"We've gone through all the agonies of putting the children to rest, so whilst it does it bring it back, it's at arms length."
In South Australia, 932 mushroom-related calls were made to the Poison Information Centre in the decade from 2015 until 2024, most of which were children aged less than five.
Of those, 319 cases were referred to hospital.
Mr Norris said his great aunts and uncle's stories should serve as a reminder for people of how dangerous mushrooms could be.
"Even back from those years of when my family members died, there was still no real realisation of how deadly they can be," he said.
"It's only this trial that's brought it back to people's mind to be a bit more aware.
"It's a cautionary tale what happened to those beautiful children, but it hasn't stood up and people forget."
Hynam Heritage Group secretary Lyn Schinckel said it had long been rumoured the children were buried at Hynam.
"Nobody seemed to know where," she said.
"There were stories that they weren't allowed to be buried here because it was a private cemetery.
"One of the members decided to get the ground-penetrating radar here to actually find if and where they were."
Mrs Schinckel was among the attendees at the ceremony in 2017.
"We were pretty excited that we'd found something useful that no one else really knew," she said.
"It was a very moving little ceremony, particularly for Noel and his wife.
"We always knew what had happened but not really how it had finished or where it had finished."
