Her parents were Edward Bruno Dolling and Amy Caroline, née Thiselton.
After a period in England studying at King's College London, she returned to Australia and finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics from the University of Adelaide.
[2] Dolling then worked as a secondary school teacher from 1941, and was also a part-time lecturer at the Adelaide Kindergarten Training College, teaching Australian literature and the history of education.
[3] In 1962 she was appointed the editor of Opinion, the journal of the South Australian English Teachers' Association.
[1] The two books were runners-up for the Alexander Henderson Award, which is given by the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies.