Inside Woowookarung Regional Park where missing Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy often went running

Woowookarung Regional Park in Ballarat is popular with runners, walkers and bike riders. (ABC News: Rochelle Kirkham)

A sprawling bushland lies on Ballarat’s south-eastern fringe — almost on the doorstep of where missing mum-of-three Samantha Murphy lives.

It’s named the “place of plenty” — Woowookarung Regional Park.

About 5 kilometres north to south and a couple of kilometres across, it contains a network of tracks, trails and roads winding between the native trees and remnant pines.

These paths range from easily driveable to four-wheel drive only, while others are suited to the hikers and joggers who regularly make their way through the scrubland.

Woowookarung Regional Park is one of the search areas for Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy. (ABC News: Rochelle Kirkham)

In some sections, trees are regrowing, pointing to the area’s history as a pine plantation that backed on to the Ballarat suburb of Canadian.

It is 641 hectares of seemingly peaceful bushland escape.

But for all its natural wonder, the area is far from wilderness.

Get off the track and walk in a straight line and it won’t be long before you hit another track, or even a home on the fringe of the forest.

Located 10 minutes from Ballarat’s CBD, it is not a bushland you would typically get lost in.

Samantha Murphy is 51 years old and described as tall with blonde hair. (Supplied: Victoria Police)

Yet it was into this bushland that Ms Murphy seemingly vanished on Sunday morning, after heading off on her regular morning run.

The 51-year-old’s disappearance has triggered one of the widest and busiest searches in recent memory in the Ballarat area.

Dozens of police, SES and other volunteers have scoured as much of the bush as possible over the past week, focusing on this and other nearby areas she is known to run.

On Friday, the search area switched to bush and farmland around the township of Buninyong, an area at least 10km from Ms Murphy’s home and beyond the area she is known to run.

The focus of the search has expanded to Buninyong. (Datawrapper)

Police say there have been no confirmed sightings or evidence of Ms Murphy’s movements since CCTV captured her leaving her home.

Ongoing search

There is not a lot of CCTV in the area around Woowokarung Regional Park, where Ms Murphy was expected to run, so police are appealing for dash cam footage.

It is not uncommon for people to be driving through the area.

Gold prospectors often comb the park in search of a lucky find, sightseers can see Ballarat from its lookout, and it is home to Australia’s first trail constructed for people with dementia.

The view from the scenic lookout in Woowokarung Regional Park. (ABC News: Rochelle Kirkham)

But sometimes, the peace and quiet is taken advantage of.

Joy riders speed down dirt tracks throwing up clouds of dust, rubbish is dumped in the scrub and stolen cars are set on fire here.

Historical mine shafts and shallow holes from Ballarat’s gold exploring days are also dotted through parts of the bushland.

Police say these unused mines, scattered dams and the thick and rugged bush create challenging terrain to canvas.

Hundreds of community members have taken part the search and almost 14,000 people have joined the Find Samantha Murphy Facebook Group.

Samantha Murphy was known to run the tracks of Woowookarung Regional Park. (ABC News: Rochelle Kirkham)

Many who are out on the park’s tracks in cars or on dirt bikes, pedalling bicycles or walking through the scrub don’t know Ms Murphy but felt they needed to help.

Ballarat resident Maddi Thomas says she has spent hours driving around bushland in Woowookarung Regional Park and Buninyong over the past few days.

“I feel really awful for her family … I like to go for walks in the bush on my own — I think it’s scary to think that something’s happened,” she says.

Ms Thomas says she has often enjoyed walking in the same bushland where the search is being conducted with her two dogs, but she will now be more cautious about doing so.

“It’s really quiet and peaceful, but that might stop for me. You can be in the bush for a while and not see another person,” she says.

Ms Murphy’s exact running route remains unknown at this stage, and police say they are keeping an open mind in the search.

She is described as a regular runner familiar with the isolated roads around her home and is well-known to locals, who often see her out running.

Samantha Murphy and her husband Mick run a panel beating business called Inland Motor Body Works. (ABC News: Patrick Laverick)

The Murphys own a local panel beating business, Inland Motor Works, where Ms Murphy works in administration.

Friends have also described her as being closely involved in the arts and the local community.

Public appeal

Victoria Police’s missing persons squad has taken the lead in the investigation.

Speaking to ABC Statewide Drive, Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt says volunteers, including those from the CFA, will be withdrawn from the search over the weekend, but police and specialist resources will continue to look for the missing woman.

On Friday morning, police had “nothing immediate to indicate there is anything sinister behind Samantha’s disappearance”.

“We haven’t received any information relating to her movements from the moment she left [her] home address on Sunday morning,”

Detective Acting Superintendent Hatt said.

Police continue their appeal for CCTV and dash cam footage from the public and have asked landowners in the search area to check their properties and sheds.

Ms Murphy is described as Caucasian, about 173 centimetres tall, of slim build and with shoulder-length blonde hair.

On the morning she went missing she was wearing black exercise leggings and a brown singlet.

Anyone who sees Ms Murphy or has information that can help with the investigation should contact triple-0 immediately.