Born in Sydney, Marygai McNamara moved to Papua New Guinea with her family, living in Wau in the New Guinea Highlands and travelling to Sydney for her education as a boarder at Santa Sabina College, Strathfield. She returned to Wau only for school holidays. She studied for her BA and DipEd at the University of Sydney, and has taught in London, in New South Wales state schools and at Kincoppal-Rose Bay, Sydney. She completed an MA in Writing at the University of Technology, Sydney, in 2002. She married
Tom Hayllar.
