Julia Featherstone was born and educated in Grafton, and at the University of Sydney (BA. Dip Ed), where she lived at the Women's College, the University of Adelaide (M Urban Planning) and at UTS (Dip Communications).

Her first job was as a secondary school teacher, originally teaching Economics and Geography and later teaching TV production to talented children at Sydney Girls High School. From 1979 to 1981 she was a staff photographer at the Sydney Morning Herald, the only woman employed as a photographer at the time. She contributed all the photographs to Don Dunstan's Australia, a book written by the former Premier of South Australia. Julia Featherstone has contributed to many group photographic exhibitions and had one solo exhibition. She was a finalist in the Olive Cotton Photography Award 2005.

She was second in the first Australian Women's Surfboard Riding title held at Bondi in 1963.
She married Alasdair Macfarlane in 1987 and they have two children, a boy and a girl.
Julia Featherstone returned to full time study and is completing a Masters degree in Photomedia at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.

Sources used to compile this entry: Julia Featherstone, October 2005.