[1][4][5][6] As the youngest and only girl in her family, Sime enjoyed reading and drawing and expressed a wish to attend art school at 16 years of age.
[7] She was inspired by British modernists such as Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Ben Nicholson.
[3] Mostly self-taught, she trained formally at the Melbourne Technical College in 1948 for 6 months where she met and eventually married Ian Sime, another aspiring artist.
[7] Joined by the sculptors Julius Kane and Clifford Last, the Simes exhibited their artworks at Georges and Mirka Mora's studio on Collins Street.
[7] Her reputation enabled her to become an art teacher at the Fintona Girls' School without having any formal teaching training.