[3] Lee was born in a dry creek-bed under a tree, in Stuart (what would become Alice Springs), Australia, in 1908, the youngest child of Ah Hong and Ranjika.

Lee's family ran a market garden on Todd Street and their house was popular with bush men needing a "good feed" when they came to town.

[4] As a child the government attempted to take Lee and her siblings Ada and Dempsey,[5] to live at The Bungalow, an institution for Aboriginal children.

[4] Her brother Dempsey was considered by Standley to be exceptionally bright, and he was made head of the school; this was a decision that led to some backlash.

[1][12] Lee and Purdy married at the Catholic Church in Alice Springs and lived in a simple house, with dirt floors, near her father's market garden which was now located on Gap Road.

[14][15][16] The purpose of the centre is to provide Indigenous people with the knowledge and technologies for creating sustainable food production and healthy lifestyles.

[10][1] Lee's oral history was tape-recorded as part of a project for the National Library of Australia documenting the lives of Chinese Australians.

[3] The oral history was published in the form of an interview in the book, Astronauts, Lost Souls & Dragons: Voices of Today's Chinese Australians (Diana Giese, University of Queensland Press, 1997)[3]