Across Ballarat, the community is rallying in search for missing mum Samantha Murphy

Virginia O'Loughlan has struggled to stay calm over the past few days, knowing her friend Samantha Murphy is missing. Family overwhelmed by 'unbelievable' support On Thursday afternoon, Ms Murphy's eldest daughter Jess joined her father Mick to issue a tearful plea for her mum to "come home soon". "There are a lot of people out here at the moment – different agencies — the SES are doing an amazing job at the moment, and so's the Ballarat community, really banding together," she said. Facebook group grows to more than 8,000 members Local resident Cindy Hobbs does not know Samantha Murphy personally, but felt compelled to set up a Facebook group to help find the missing mother. Ms Hobbs said managing the group was not an easy task, but the support it had generated highlighted the "fantastic" strength of the Ballarat community.