She returned to the goldfields to attend Eastern Goldfields High School, staying with her grandmother for five years. While living in Boulder she joined Girl Guides Australia where she developed an interest in birds and flowering plants. Choosing a career of teaching she was appointed as monitor teacher at her family town of Kendenup in 1924. After Kendenup, she was transferred to Mount Barker, Dumbleyung and Gnowangerup and in 1927 went to Perth and entered Claremont Teachers College for the required one year of training to become a country teacher. While there she met Dom Serventy and joined the Western Australian Naturalists' Club.