Her older half-brother, Timothy Marc, died in a motorcycle accident in Thailand in 1996. Throsby later recalled the death of her brother "I was 17 when died and I had one exam left in my HSC. I went to the exam and did all that stuff because I thought you had to keep on doing that stuff and I didn't stop... Those things affect you. I think it has made me scared. It made me scared to travel because he died when he was in Bangkok. It made me scared to get on a motorcycle, which I've never done. It made me scared when other people travel away from me". After earning a B.A. degree (major in English) from the University of Sydney, Throsby worked at an art house video store for several years and travelled overseas, including living in Austin, Texas for six months.