In 1958 at the age of six, Sandra Hill was taken from her family along with her brother and two sisters. They were relocated from Port Samson in the north of Western Australia to Perth in the south and were placed in Sister Kate's Orphanage where Hill's own mother had been sent as a child in the 1930s. At the age of seven Sandra and her older sister were fostered to a white family. Hill lived with them until she married in 1968. In 1985 at the age of 29 Hill was reunited with her birth family, her mother is Doreen Hill and her sister is Patricia Hill-Wall. Hill's family connections are the traditional clans of the Ballardong and Wilmen on her mother's side and Wardandi and Minang on her father's side.
In 1978 Hill enrolled in her first formal training in a Fine Arts course at Balga Technical College in Perth. After completion of her studies she began teaching at Balga and then Midland Tafe. As a visual artist, Hill lectured in Visual Art Theory and Practice and was employed as the Coordinator of the Contemporary Aboriginal Arts program at Curtin University of Technology, she continued to lecture there until 2004. During this time she completed her Post Graduate diploma in Visual Arts.
Hill has had numerous solo exhibitions and grants, as well as been chosen as the artist in residence for Indigenous people at Banff Art Centre in Alberta Canada in 2001. She was also one of five Indigenous artists chosen to be involved in the West Australian International Artists Workshops in Walpole, Western Australia. During her career Hill has been involved in many Public Art projects, and in 2007 she was commisssioned by the Chief Ministers Office in Canberra to complete artwork for the Ngunnawal people. Today Hill works as a fulltime artist and paints at the Wardong Art Studio in Balingup, Western Australia.
Hill's story was recorded by the National Library for an oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).
