Moore was born in
Bua, on
Vanua Levu (Sandalwood Island), Fiji, the son of the Reverend William Moore,
Wesleyan Minister and
missionary and his wife Mary Ann Ducker. The family arrived in Sydney in 1864 and Moore attended
Newington College (1865–1869), when it was located at
Newington House on the
Parramatta River at
Silverwater. From 1870 until 1872 he was a student teacher at the private
High School, Goulburn, run by
George Metcalfe who had been his Headmaster at Newington. In 1873 he went to the
Tingha tinfields as secretary and manager of the Britannia Tin Mining Company. Moore married Isabella Sawkins on 18 June 1876 and had four daughters and a son. He was commissioned as a
Justice of the Peace in 1879 and was a member of
Board of Technical Education from 1886 until 1887. In 1896, Moore was elected the second President of the Old Newingtonians' Union. He served again in that position in 1898, 1904 and 1916. ==Parliamentary service==