Judith Macinolty was born in Melbourne in 1931, the daughter of a pharmacist, Les Allen and his wife Mary. She won a scholarship to MacRobertson Girls' High School, from which she matriculated to Melbourne University in 1949. By this time she had also been a member of the Victorian state swimming team and had won a state backstroke championship in 1947. She represented Melbourne University and Victoria in interstate competitions and remained a life long swimmer.

She graduated from the University of Melbourne with a BA, then MA with majors in English and history, with a particular interest in Australian history. In 1953, she married John Macinolty, then a country solicitor in Gippsland, later Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney. They had two children.

Judy Macinolty taught at Northmead and Doonside High Schools, and was Head Teacher History at Doonside 1970-73. In 1972 she began a Master's degree, her thesis being published as Sugar Bag Days; Sydney workers and the challenge of the 1930s depression. She was President of the NSW and Australian History Teachers' Associations.
During the 1970s and 1980s she lectured at the Macquarie and NSW universities and held a research fellowship at the University of Sydney.

Her last formal work was as a project officer with the NSW Bicentennial Council. She was associated with many activities concerned with reconciliation, and worked to achieve agreement between white and Aboriginal communities around Myall Creek which resulted in a memorial acknowledging the massacre there.

Sources used to compile this entry: Sydney Morning Herald 12 September 2001.