Julia Rachel Levoi was born on 11 February 1886 in Christchurch in New Zealand; her parents were Ralph and Miriam.

[1] Rapke's career in the charitable sector began in the 1920s, when she was appointed secretary of the Maternity Patients' Convalescent Home.

[1][3] Active in the suffrage movement, she was convenor of the National Council of Women of Victoria's rights of citizenship committee.

[1] Politically conservative, Rapke was a member of the Australian Women's National League and campaigned on behalf of the United Australia Party.

[6] In 1946 she founded a women's model parliament, based on the format of the Parliamentary Debaters Society, that she had participated in at a Constitutional Club.

[1] During the Second World War, Rapke took on federal secretarial responsibilities for the Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO).

[11] Part of the Ida Wynn Children's Centre at Mount Carmel in Haifa is named in Rapke's honour.