Throughout his life Michael John Gorey was a colorful character and hard worker who toiled for his family in often adverse conditions. Susceptible in later life to mood swings and sometimes contradictory, he raised a large family in difficult circumstances marked by natural disaster and human tragedy. Three of his sons (Edward, Archibald and Michael) and a daughter (Sheila) had their lives cut severely short. Mick was born at Corop on March 25, 1884. According to his birth certificate, his father Edward was employed as a boundary rider.