Her parents were Mary Emillia (born Druitt) and her husband the Rev.

She trained as a nurse at Marrickville Hospital in the suburbs of Sydney during the war years of 1914 to 1917.

[2] From 1938 until the end of her career she was a member of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association's council.

[1] In 1951 she was still organising the nursing at Crown Street Hospital when she was lauded for arranging what was called a "Baby Bureau".

Shaw's Maternity Booking Office for Metropolitan Hospitals (aka Baby Bureau) took on this task giving mothers a one-stop shop where they would be told of a hospital that had a free bed for them.