[4] Blackman was born as Barbara Patterson in Brisbane, Queensland on 22 December 1928 with her twin sister, Coralie Hilda, who died 16 days later.
For example, she wrote the libretto for Peter Sculthorpe's Eliza Surviva (an opera that was never completed because of difficulties between him and his collaborator, Patrick White),[7] an autobiography,[8] and a humorous book of verse.
Herself launching into broadcasting in the early 1980's, she recorded 149 oral history programs for the National Library of Australia, The Barbara Blackman Collection[12]included interview's with personality's associated with several genres with the arts, primarily the visual arts including painters, sculptures, potters and others, but also with writers, actors, musician's, theatre directors, architects, medical researchers, occupational therapists and ophalmologists.
Blackman later married Frenchman Marcel Veldhoven and moved with him to a retreat on the South Coast of NSW.
When this relationship ended in March 2002, she moved to Canberra, where Adrian Keenan, a former music teacher who once resided with the Blackman's became her carer.
[14] Blackman was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2012 under her maiden and married name Barbara Patterson Blackman with the citation "for distinguished service to the arts and to the community, as a supporter of artistic performance, through philanthropic contributions, and as an advocate for people who are blind and partially sighted.