Topsy was born around 1950, in the Gibson Desert. She was born at Wirrulnga, a rockhole near what is now Kiwirrkurra, in Western Australia. She was the first child of Papalya and Waku. She grew up living in the desert, living a traditional hunter-gatherer way of life on the western side of Lake Mackay. Her family had no contact with the modern world and had never seen White people. When she was about 13, she married a man named Tommy Tjakamarra. She left her family and went with Tommy to go and live at Mount Doreen, northwest of Yuendumu. This was her first encounter with modern, Euro-Australian society. Her family was left behind in the desert and did not come out until 1984.