After leaving North Sydney Girls High School, Deirdre Hill's ambition was to become a journalist. She first worked for the Sydney Daily Telegraph then became a stenographer for George Edwards Productions, a firm producing radio serials for Sydney Radio Station 2UW. She joined the women's air force (WAAF) at the age of 18 and served during the Second World War in the meteorological section in Richmond, NSW.
Hill, author of several books for children and young adults, was appointed Executive Secretary of the Australian Society of Authors in 1971 and held the position until September 1981. She wrote a book on the organisation, A Writer's Rights (1983). She has also been a member of the Society of Women Writers (SWW) and PEN.