Carol Hetherington arrived in Australia in 1946, the daughter of an Australian RAAF pilot and an English mother. She spent her early life in Scottsdale, Tasmania, and was educated at state high schools in Scottsdale and Launceston and at the University of Tasmania, graduating with a B.A. (Hons) in English in 1965. From 1966-1968 she taught Senior English at the Hobart Matriculation College before travelling to England to pursue post-graduate studies at London University, and later living and working in Montreal, Canada.
On returning to Australia at the end of 1971, she completed professional qualifications in Librarianship and worked in numerous Queensland libraries including the Fryer Library in the University of Queensland. From 1985 to 1998 Hetherington was employed as a research assistant in the Department of English, University of Queensland, associated with a variety of research projects. Since 1985 she has worked also as a bibliographer and editorial assistant for Australian Literary Studies. She joined AustLit as a bibliographer in February 2001 and moved to the position of Content Manager in March 2003 which she held until 2012.
