[3] Following her graduation, in 1964 Deacon won a place in the Administrative Training Program established by the Commonwealth Public Service Board.
Her career there was, however, interrupted when she married Allan Deacon, a diplomat and accompanied him on postings to Cairo, Malta and Saigon.
[2] Deacon married John Higley in 1985 and moved to the University of Texas at Austin, working initially as a lecturer in government and later assistant professor.
[2] A two-day symposium, organised by the ANU School of History, with the title "Entitled Gender, Biography, Modernity & Film", honoured Deacon's career.
[5] Her biography of Judith Anderson was shortlisted for the 2019 George Freedley Memorial Award by the Theatre Library Association in the United States.