Melissa McCord was born and raised on Queensland's beef cattle region, the Central Burnett. Until the age of ten she was taught by correspondence school on the family's cattle station. Her secondary education was completed at the New England Girls' School in Armidale, NSW. McCord's first book, Outback Women, was begun when she was twenty one and was published in 1986. From 1982 she worked as a magazine, film and portrait photographer in Australia and overseas.
