 Isobel Ida Bennett was born in Brisbane in 1909 and educated at Somerville House leaving at the age of 16 when her family moved to Sydney.She attended business college and gained employment in a patent office and for four years at the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in Sydney, she joined the Zoology Department of the University of Sydney in 1933.From that time until 1948, she worked as secretary, librarian, demonstrator and research assistant to Professor W.J.