Stopped in Australia, mostly at large houses (5)
I believe the answer is:
froze
'stopped' is the definition.
'australia mostly at large houses' is the wordplay.
'australia' becomes 'oz' (informal name for Australia).
'mostly' means to remove the last letter.
'at large' becomes 'free' (similar in meaning).
'houses' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'free' with its final letter taken away is 'fre'.
'oz' inserted within 'fre' is 'FROZE'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for froze that I've seen before include "stopped moving altogether" , "Didn't move" , "Became motionless" , "Suddenly stood motionless" , "Stopped dead" .)