J. E. Liddle of Meekatharra had correspondence with the Public Library of Western Australia about the loan of three books in 1919. He is listed in WA Post Office Directories from 1920 to 1930 as a resident of Meekatharra, employed as an Insurance Agent. It has been established that Liddle was a well-known writer of poems that appeared from time to time in various newspapers in the Murchison District of Western Australia. In 2008, an 89-year-old woman who was a long-time resident of Meekatharra recalled Liddle as a man known as 'Old Joe' who lived alone and left town about 1930.