She was born in Sydney to John Ross, the member for Albury in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and Rita, née Mitchell, and was educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney and Frensham School.
[2][3] She returned to her family property at Holbrook in the early 1950s, and when she retired from teaching in 1957, she purchased 500 acres (200 ha) from her father.
[3] In 1971 she became the first single woman to serve as state president of the CWA, a position she held until 1974.
In that year she was appointed by the Whitlam Labor government to the National Rural Advisory Council, on which she was the only female member.
In 1976 she joined the fledgling Australian Press Council, and regularly contributed to local newspapers and to The Land, in which she had a weekly column.