Margaret Culbong is the daughter of Esther Parfitt, from the Dryandra area, and Lindsay Culbong, who was born in Kendenup. Her parents separated and at the age of seventeen Margaret was left with her father to raise her siblings. Although she was working as an administration clerk for the Native Welfare Department, the Department forced Margaret and her father to send her two brothers and three sisters to live at Sister Kate's Home, Perth. After twelve months her brother Lenny Culbong (q.v.) was sent to Mogumber and his brother Gary later followed.
Culbong stayed in contact with her siblings over the years and went on to work in the nursing field. In 2003 she was chief executive of the Geraldton Aboriginal Medical Service (GRAMS).