Biography

Known as Microbe. He was a peculiar looking man, medium height, long-legged and hunched-back. His voice was squeaky and high pitched and he could do anything-but he liked being a cook best of all. He had wandered around the Eastern Fields for a long time, and he was getting full of it. He would like to get some job where he could settle down for a bit. He didn't care what it was. His proper name was John Morgan, but he was always called "Microbe." Everyone called him that, and he took no offence. He was making his way from the Kalgoorlie side to the Murchison well over thirty years ago. He pulled up at Lawlers, where he thought he could make a bit of a crust once he got a start. He wanted a camp, though, and a bit of a cart. He chummed in with a man who could fix him up. What was the property worth? Well, there was a neat camp, an old cart and harness, a "bit of a brumby" to pull it, a good camp oven, and other gear-quite a nice outfit. Would a fiver be asking too much? Microbe had that sum and made the deal. To his surprise, he got more than he bargained for - he got the "Missus." She was a middle-aged woman, who had been housekeeping for the seller for some time, and it was mostly on her account that he was leaving. She had a thatch like tow, a red freckled face, sunburnt arms, and a peculiar shuffle. Besides, she was stone deaf. She was not informed of the part she took in the transaction until after her former flame had gone. Then Microbe put the position before her. She was quite satisfied. Microbe was just as good as anyone else, and, so far as looks and afflictions went, they were on a par. For a long time Microbe kept a shanty on the Sandstone-Youanmi road. It was a neat little place, kept beautifully clean and, in summer time, well sprinkled with water and, therefore, a godsend to the weary wayfarer. As he did not interfere with the trade of legitimate liquor sellers, he was not molested. Microbe kept his pitch until traffic on the road made it unpayable. He and "Deafy" then got the job of rouseabouts at the local slaughter-house, where they remained to the end. They lie side by side in the Youanmi cemetery,