Ruth Hawker was born at Winterbrook House in Oxfordshire, England, but of a pioneer Australian family. She was one of four children of Walter Hawker and his wife Mary (Faulkner). Hawker came to Australia with her parents in 1906, but was sent to Allenswood, in England, to finish her education. On her return to Australia she lived at Anama, Clare. Hawker married Dr A. K. Gault, and they had a son and two daughters. After living at Mount Lofty she moved to Glenelg where she taught Domestic Economy at Woodlands Church of England Girls' Grammar School and later lived in North Adelaide where she died in 1976. Hawker's An Emu in the Fowl Pen was written because her English friends wanted a story about life in Australia.
Hawker was also a talented painter, and painted watercolours of old Adelaide buildings.