Helen Hodgman, the only child of John and Martha Willes, spent the first year of her life in London. When her father returned from army service and resumed his job as a gas fitter, the family moved to Colchester, Essex. When she was five they moved again to the nearby village of Kelvedon. She was educated at the Anglican village elementary school and at Colchester High School for Girls. In 1958, when she was thirteen, the family moved to Hobart, Tasmania; at that time Hobart was experiencing a boom in building, and her father was provided work as a Rotary Club adoptee. She left school at fifteen to work as a bank teller but soon felt that she needed more education. She served for a year as a junior teacher, enabling her to enter the Teachers' College in Hobart for a two-year course qualifying her for elementary school teaching...