Described as Sydney's "iconic eccentric", she was known for her contentious relationships with the city's taxi drivers and for her ability to quote any passage from Shakespeare for money.

[1] Born in Ashfield, New South Wales, to Maria Louisa Miles (née Binnington), and the third of five surviving children, she grew up in the Sydney suburb of St Ives.

The disease permanently and profoundly changed her personality, although not her intelligence, and she was unable to finish her studies and became an eccentric and notorious identity in and around Sydney.

[2] In 1923, tired of his daughter's bohemian behaviour and lifestyle, Miles' father had her committed to a hospital for the insane, in Gladesville, New South Wales, where she stayed for two years.

Miles and her brother John joined the far-right Australia First Movement in 1941, at which time she gave an address in Elizabeth Bay on her membership application.

They are: Dictionary by a Bitch, I Go on a Wild Goose Chase, I Leave in a Hurry, For We Are Young and Free, Notes on Sydney Monuments and Advance Australia Fair.

[7] Some time in the 1950s, Miles came to regard the environs of the rectory (then referred to as "the Clergy House") of Christ Church St Laurence as her home.

From her position on the porch, Miles could hear the hymn singing at evensong (she requested that the nearby church windows remain open) and joined in dining room conversations as it suited her.

Following a spell in Long Bay Gaol, after she had wrenched the door off a taxi when the driver refused her entry, it was agreed she could sleep in the rectory laundry, close to the kitchen, and she remained there until Father Hope's retirement in 1964.

[citation needed] As Miles was a well-known figure in Sydney society, in 1961 a portrait of her by Alex Robertson was entered for the Archibald Prize.

[3] The 1985 novel Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville was loosely based on her life;[10] and was turned into a movie in 1995 starring Toni Collette and Ruth Cracknell in the title roles.

A fictionalised version of Miles briefly appeared as a minor character in the 1978 Australian drama film The Night the Prowler (which also starred Ruth Cracknell), directed by Jim Sharman, with a screenplay by renowned author and playwright Patrick White.

In 2023, Rose Ellis published a biography, Bee Miles: Australia's Famous Bohemian Rebel, and the Untold Story Behind the Legend.