Born in Sydney, Margaret Hennessy grew up in Kingsford and was educated at St Vincent's College, Potts Point. She trained as a general nurse at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital 1952-56 and then did midwifery at the Royal Women's Hospital, Paddington.

Margaret went to London in the late 1950s, worked in various English hospitals and married, in 1960, English-born Ted Atkin.
The Atkins returned to Australia in 1962 and settled in Wollongong until 1966, when they moved to Sydney and Margaret began working at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in North Sydney.

She did further training in psychiatric nursing in the 1980s and worked at Ryde Psychiatric Hospital until her retirement in 2001. She was a Director of the Northern Area Health Service from 2002 until its disbandment in 2004.

Margaret joined the ALP in 1974 and was awarded a McKell award for service to the party in 2003. Her campaign in Gordon in 1976 was complicated as she was working on night duty at the Mater and had five small children to care for when at home. It is remarkable then, that she outpolled the DLP sitting member, although she did not win the seat, which reverted to the Liberals.

Sources used to compile this entry: Letter from Margaret Atkin dated 25 March 2005.