[1] She went on to study at Santa Sabina Dominican Convent School, where she was taught by Sister Mary Anhelm who was another enthusiast for learning.
Mackinlay was a school sportswoman who also passed four other A levels but it was in English that she was the best in the state.
[1] The Sancta Sophia College of the University of Sydney opened in 1926 as the first for Catholic women.
She converted that into a first-class master's degree in 1935[3] although she was already a novice at the Dominican Roman Catholic Convent in Maitland.
[1] Mackinlay died in 1974 after a severe stroke in the Sydney suburb of Lewisham.