Carolyn Moylan is a Nyungar woman, married with two children and seven grandchildren. Carolyn has seven sisters (one deceased) and two brothers (one deceased) and her extended family members are the Haywards and Jacksons from the Southwest and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia.
As an active member of the Aboriginal community she has participated in, and facilitated cultural awareness workshops over the years. Carolyn went to third year at high school, but her academic achievements as an adult include the completion of the Aboriginal Bridging Course, a Bachelor of Arts (English) in 1994 at Curtin University and, following this enrolled in a Diploma of Education (Primary) at Murdoch University in 1995 (incomplete).
In 2001 Carolyn returned to study and completed a Bachelor of Communications and Cultural Studies (Honours) at Curtin University of Technology. Carolyn has been employed since 1996 at Curtin University of Technology as the Coordinator of the Aboriginal Bridging Course (ABC) and the Indigenous Tertiary Access Course (ITEC). As well as co-ordinating these courses, she also co-ordinated the Associate Degree in Science and Technology and the Associate Degree in Aboriginal Art in 2000-2003. Carolyn has been a Senior Manager of the Aboriginal Management Committee at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies (CAS) for over ten years. In 2005 she was nominated by the CAS for a NAIDOC award and in 2006 she was awarded a one year DEST Scholarship to pursue her interests in writing a book.
She has studied for a Doctorate of Creative Arts and is also worked on a casual basis as a Research Assistant at the University of Western Australia for the AustLit Black Words: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers and Story Tellers subset.