Her father, Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston, JP (great-grandson of Sir George Grey, 1st Baronet), was a member of the Imperial Civil Service in India.

She was involved with Dorette Margarethe MacCallum and others who were challenging the patriarchy at the University of Sydney where the men were trying to monopolise the sports facilities.

[5] Her father-in-law Sir Philip Whistler Street served as Chief Justice of New South Wales, as did her husband Kenneth and their youngest son, Laurence, who was knighted in 1976.

She led the field on the first count, and only the preferences of conservative independent Bill Wentworth allowed Harrison to survive.

[6] In 1941 the future prime minister Ben Chifley received a united deputation from a number of women's organisations.