After the Western Australian Aboriginal Act (1905) was passed, her and her half brother were deemed orphans and forced to travel 150 miles by foot from Argyle Police Station to Wyndham in 1906.

From there, a cattle steamer, Bullara, took them to Fremantle, then by train to Swan Native and Half Caste Mission in Guildford, an Anglican reformatory and industrial school.

On 3 February 1930, Argyle married Smith at St Bartholomew's Anglican Church in East Perth after the Aborigines Department removed its restrictions on their relationship.

Ann McGrath writes in her article Celebrating white men and their black lovers for The Herald, "They fell in love in a society deeply divided on racial lines but why did such couples have to flee like exiles?

She provided refuge for domestic servants between jobs, women visiting their children in institutions, Aboriginal World War II soldiers, and for anyone seeking companionship.

[5] Kinnane documents the destruction of many of Argyle's files, especially from 1938 into the 1950s, after the appointment of Stanley G. Middleton as Commissioner for Native Affairs, whose policy centered around assimilation and bringing the "Australian way of life" to Aboriginal families.

[4] In his article "Submission to the Legal and Constitutional References [Senate] Committee: Inquiry into Indigenous workers whose paid labour was controlled by Government", he cites Argyle's story and the appropriation of her money by the department as well of the destruction of her files.