Nance Capper Irvine went to Fort Street Girls' High School in the Sydney Rocks and later became a teacher. Between 1963 and 1974 she completed three degrees, including a M.Ed. (Sydney), and spent an Associate's year of study at London University. In 1977 she retired from lecturing at Canberra C.A.E., but went on lecturing part-time for the Australian National University's Centre for Continuing Education in Comparative Literature and Music. Irvine has published and edited several books on historical topics (including children's books), and has written a children's play Sydney Cove Adventures, aired on BBC 4.
In 1994 Irvine was honoured by the University of Canberra with a Master of Arts (honoris causa) for outstanding service to scholarship connected with her service to society as well as her contributions to Australian literature.
