Mooball is my town

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Mooball is my town

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• Murwillumbah is my town

THEY'RE the salt of the earth and worth their weight in gold.

Kenny and Noreen Marshall are two of Mooball's most valued residents with a history that has seen them milk and tend cows and pick bananas from a tender age.

Now in his 80's, Kenny is still working a banana plantation, despite battling cancer of the voice box that left him using an artificial voice box to communicate.

And communicating is something he does very well - with a wit that would challenge the best stand-up comic.

"We've been married 57 years now," Mrs Marshall told My Daily News at their Mooball home.

"And you only get 10 years for murder," Mr Marshall quickly added.

After a quick jab in the ribs for his quip, Mr Marshall told of his years of plantation working.

"I was born at Mooball and worked pretty much since then," he said.

"I'm a foreigner," Mrs Marshall said.

"I was born a mile up the road."

Seems the humour is a family thing.

One of their many virtues is their ability to jest, despite what fate has thrown their way.

Mr Marshall bears the scars of a mishap on his left leg.

"When I was young, my mates and I filled the Dodge truck with kerosene instead of petrol and ended up kangaroo-hopping with a load of bananas on the back," he said.

"Don't know what we were thinking.

"I ended up pinned on a barbed wire fence with a load of bananas on top of me."

Visitors to Mooball are fascinated by the telegraph poles that are painted in the fashion of a black and white Friesian dairy cow.

"That was done to draw attention to the Moo Moo cafe at Mooball," Mrs Marshall said.

"But we think the name of the town is Aboriginal.

"The locals pronounce it 'Maw-bal,' but I think it's meant to be Moo-ball."