 In 1954 the family moved from Carnarvon to Geraldton then in 1962 to Perth with her father's employment with the Native Welfare Department, where Shelley was educated at Santa Maria College, then trained as a cadet journalist on the Daily News.She moved to Sydney in her early 20s and became editor of Cleo magazine.She moved to London to work for Australian Consolidated Press's Fleet St bureau, then as deputy editor on "Company" magazine and finally as deputy editor on the Look section of "The Sunday Times", returning to Australia in 1986, where, after working as an assistant editor on The Herald in Melbourne, and then as editor of "Good Weekend", she eventually became the first woman deputy editor appointed to The Australian newspaper.