 She attended Southland Girls' High School where she was dux, University of Otago in Dunedin where she studied English and Latin, graduating with an M.A., and Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a First in English language.She returned to New Zealand to teach and was appointed Headmistress of Columba College, Dunedin in 1942.She left that position when she married Frank Hall in 1949.