May Moore arrived from London with her parents and their children in March 1924 under the Group Settlement Scheme which founded NorthcliffeThe Group Settlers thought they were coming to estabished farms with nearby towns providing services. Northcliffe was virgin karri forest with campsites comprising two-room tin shacks with earth floors and no amenities. It was three years before a 'Group House' was available for the family.The Atkinson's original block was on Riverway Road, but they were later shifted to a property on Wheatley Coast Road

May completed her schooling by correspondence and then became a teacher under a monitoring scheme with residential courses at Claremont Teachers' College. In 1928, she was posted to her first school outside Northcliffe but returned in the following year to teach at Northcliffe group schools in order to help support her family. She was an identity as a young woman riding a motor bike and side car. In December 1933 she married Gil Moore, from another Group Settlement family, and they moved to the Boorara Road farm where she lived the rest of her life (almost 70 years).

Women teachers were required to resign on marrying and it was not until the 1950s that May returned to teaching at the now Northcliffe District High School. She also taught at the Shannon School prior to the mill workers' and forestry settlements being abandoned in the 1970s.

May's life spanned all decades of the 20th Century and all phases of the development of Northcliffe. She experienced the bombings in London during the World War I (two young cousins were killed in the bombing of a school in her area), the hardship of the beginning of the Group Settlement Scheme, the 1930s Depression and its disastrous impact on the Group Settlers, life managing the farm with children during World War II while Gil was away, the more prosperous times of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, the economic hardships of Northcliffe in the 1970s when Australia's main market for dairy products in Britain was lost, and the economic variability since due to changes in the dairy and timber industries.

May and Gil retired from dairying in the 1970s and May was able to return to her birthplace, London, for a visit. They also travelled frequently to Wollongong, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide where some of her children lived.

May was a very active community person through involvement in the CWA (life member), Girl Guides, Red Cross, P&C and the establishment of the Northcliffe Pioneer Museum. She loved Northcliffe at first sight, despite the early harships, and has been a passionate advocate for its future ever since.

She will continue to be a wonderful role model: always caring for her family and friends, always positive about the future, always enjoying her life on her beloved farm and in her community.

May's contribution to Northcliffe will be remembered and our community rejoices in her being here and making a difference. She was the second last link, living in Northcliffe, to our Group Settlement beginnings. Archie Jackson, who arrived as a five year-old, is our last link. May Moore arrived in Northcliffe as a 14 year-old school girl, and died at age 93 with 53 descendents over 5 generations, having lived in our community for 79 years.