Florence Kennedy was born at home in a field. Her mother was Mary McDonald Field and her father worked on Bangate Station. The family lived with Kennedy's dad at the station for at time but moved back to Angledool for schooling. When Kennedy was nine, the people of the Angledool mission were forcibly moved to Brewarrina mission. This caused considerable distress to the community who were forced to leave their homes and gardens and to live in terrible conditions at Brewarrina. At the age of thirteen, after her mother died, Kennedy went to work. She married John Kennedy in 1945.