Grand-daughter of Captain William Scott of Brookside, Winnifred Scott was a journalist with the Adelaide Observer and with the South Australian Register until it closed in 1931. She also contributed to the Saturday Journal. A fellow journalist recalled that she was nicknamed 'Magpie' from her warbling voice, and she used this name for her newspaper vignettes, entitled 'Chatter', and her children's column in the Observer. An autograph book in the possession of one of her contemporaries shows a charming watercolour painted by Scott, with a magpie beside her signature in the corner. Her signature in the Lady Galway Belgium Book is also accompanied by a magpie. Scott was on the original committee of the 'Cheer-up Our Boys Society' formed in 1914.
Scott also wrote the introduction to the 1925 Whitcombe and Tombs abridged edition of the Ellis Rowan (q.v.) children's book, Bill Baillie: His Life and Adventures [1908]. Based on Scott's assertion, it appears that the book was the result of a collaboration with Rowan; the authorship of the book has been confused by the incorporation of Scott as co-author in later editions.
