Clover Nolan was born Clover Frances Kennedy in Townsville, the eldest child of Winton District pioneers Charles and Hazel Kennedy. She grew up on the family sheep property 'Werna', 48 miles north of Winton. She attended Glennie Prepatory and Glennie Memorial Schools in Toowoomba, before completing Karitare Mothercraft Training in Sydney and Kindercraft work on top of the City Hall in Brisbane. In 1940 she married Jim Nolan.
Clover Nolan was an inaugural committee member of the Winton Tourist Promotion Association and Winton District Historical Society. She also served as the secretary and archivist of the Qantilda Museum in 1972. Nolan moved to Toowoomba in 1981.
(Source: "About the Author", So You're Going "Waltzing Matilda" : A Selection of Her Bush Verse (1994), iii.)
