When she turned three, the family moved to Port Macquarie where they lived for a further three years, her father continually searching for fulltime work with the Post Master General's Department throughout the Second World War.

During the process of moving to Glossodia in 1942, the second eldest son, Raymond, was accidentally killed while helping his father with the last load of furniture, he tripped and fell while his dad was reversing the lorry. This had a devastating effect on the whole family, especially Margaret's father.

She worked hard in her younger years on her father's farm, doing all kinds of chores from chopping wood to picking peas, beans, tomatoes and plums, at an early age she became a surrogate mum to her five younger brothers.

After leaving school she worked until her marriage in January 1955 to Frederick Jackson, the couple had three children, after she and Fred divorced in 1974, Margaret held several managerial positions in the hospitality industry.

From 1977 Margaret worked with her second husband on a citrus and vegetable farm where she was constantly in contact with insecticides and pesticides that affected her very existence.