[1][2][3][4] Her father worked on the railways, and the family moved to Taihape for five years before settling in Christchurch.
[3] She was educated at Sacred Heart Girls' College in Christchurch,[5] where she excelled at sports, winning the senior athletics championship in 1937 and 1938.
[10] The match was the only occasion on which Murray represented New Zealand, because the New Zealand side for the three-Test series was selected on a regional basis, and she was unavailable for the final game as it conflicted with the wedding of Murray's sister.
[1] Oonah Murray married Francis John Shannahan, a New Zealand secondary schools association football representative that toured Australia in 1938.
[14] At the time of her death, she was the oldest living New Zealand netball international.