Leo Muir was born in Mooroopna, Victoria, to William and Midge, and was the oldest child in a family of six. As an Aboriginal youngster he lived as a fringe dweller on the outskirts of the Mooroopna on the banks of the Goulburn River, in a tin humpy.
With his Grandparents, his family moved into the township and lived in a commission house for most of Leo's state school days. At the age of fifteen, Leo decided to leave home, and was fostered into a White family. This abled him to undertake and further his education at the Watsonia Technical School. Later, Leo started an apprenticeship as a panel beater, and after the Vietman War he became a qualified Trade Instructor, and worked at the Geelong East Technical School teaching apprenticed panel beaters.
It was in 1968, when Leo conscripted in the Vietnam War, he served as a Lance-Bombardier in the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, 12th Field Unit. (Source: Forgotten Heroes and Australian War Memorial website http://www.awm.gov.au)
