 Born at Strathalbyn, South Australia, to storekeeper James Fleming (died 10 March 1913) and Charlotte, "née" Knight (died 22 January 1919), she won, in 1884, a bursary to attend Port Adelaide Model School and by 1893 had qualified as a teacher and was sent to Caltowie (between Gladstone and Jamestown) as a Provisional Teacher on Probation.In 1892, as part of her qualification, she completed a First Aid course conducted by the St. John Ambulance Association.She married sheep-farmer William Edward Goode (see below) at Port Lincoln on 11 July 1896; they had a daughter and two sons.