Schlank was the eldest child of the Prussian Salis Schlank and his Victorian wife Laura (née Beaver). Her father was a well-known Adelaide jeweller with P Falk & Co, manufacturing jewellers, of Gawler Place. They lived in South Terrace East. Schlank wrote poetry and contributed to the Library Societies' Unions Year Books and the local press. She was also an artist.
Schlank changed her name from the German 'Schlank' to 'Beaver' (her mother's maiden name) during World War I. She was the first secretary of the Wattle League. She lived all her life in Adelaide and died in the late 1920s following the amputation of her foot as the result of a foot disease. She also edited The Liberals' Cookery Book (1912).
