Margaret was educated at Walford House and Unley High School. She married Robert Paine (younger son of Judge Sir H K Paine) in 1940 and her daughter Frances was born in 1941. Her husband was killed in New Guinea in 1943. She married the Sydney radio writer, Maxwell Dunn, in 1947. Another daughter, Katherine, was born in 1948, and Margaret was widowed for the second time in 1965. She has written under all three names; Warburton, Paine and Dunn. At the age of about 12 or 13 she wrote a small book of children's stories and verses which, although it was never published, was sold by one of the Rundle Street book shops, and a copy exists in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. She has had 2 non-fiction books published; Mother was a Good Cook, Too (1974) and The Dauntless Bunch (YWCA, 1991). Before the war she worked for 5AD where part of her job was to write and edit the Kangaroo Club's children's pages in the Express and Journal, for which she wrote a number of verses, short stories and articles. She wrote bits and pieces for the children's session and at one time wrote and ran a women's session. She had short stories published by the Express and Journal and the Chronicle, both published by the Advertiser. During the war she was employed by 5AD to write copy, and wrote weekly poems and short comedy sketches for the National ABC programme 'Spotlight' produced by Trafford Whitelock. After her second marriage she moved to Sydney and began writing radio plays and serials, including 'My Love Story' (a series of 15 minute scripts for the Maquarie Network), and 'Family Fortune' and 'Cousin Kate' (serials written for George Edwards Productions.) After Maxwell Dunn's death she wrote plays for 2 TV series, 'Divorce Court' and 'Children's Court', shown on Channel 9. In 1968 she moved to Geneva, Switzerland, to work in the publications section of the world YWCA. On retiring from this work she returned to Sydney and sold 2 more plays for ABC radio. She was also asked to write the history of the YWCA in Australia.
Dunn has also published an account of early South Australia based on three early members of her family, The Captain, the Colonel and the Bishop (2004)
