She was born at
St Peters in
Adelaide, 29 August 1917. Her parents were Edward Bruno Dolling and Amy Caroline,
née Thiselton. She attended Ellerslie College in
Tranmere and
Methodist Ladies' College in
Wayville, before studying journalism at the
University of Washington,
Seattle University, and
University of California, Berkeley. After a period in England studying at
King's College London, she returned to Australia and finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics from the
University of Adelaide. Dolling then worked as a secondary school teacher from 1941, and was also a part-time lecturer at the Adelaide Kindergarten Training College, teaching Australian literature and the history of education. In 1962 she was appointed the editor of
Opinion, the journal of the South Australian English Teachers' Association. Dolling was appointed women's editor of
The Chronicle in 1966, using the
pen-name Mary Broughton; she held the position until the
Chronicle was discontinued in 1975. In 1977 she published a compilation of her writings entitled
Chronicle Cameos, and in 1981 published a history of
Marion,
The History of Marion on the Sturt. The two books were runners-up for the Alexander Henderson Award, which is given by the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies. Dolling continued to be active in the area of genealogical and women's history, serving as editor of
From Shadows into Light, a study of South Australian women artists, in 1988. Her last book, a memoir entitled
A Child Went Forth, was published in 2005. ==References==