Born in Adelaide South Australia, the daughter of Michael Patrick and Bessie Ida Muriel (née Johnstone) Durack Mary's childhood was spent on the Argyle and Ivanhoe stations in the West Australian East Kimberley area. After being educated at Loreto Convent in Perth she returned to the family properties.

During her lifetime Mary became a prolific writer, with her first known work being Little Poems of Sunshine (1923). Mary and her sister Elizabeth, who also became a noted author, completed their first book together Allabout: The Story of a Black Community on Argyle Station, Kimberley in 1935. Mary also wrote under the name of 'Virgilia' for The West Australian newspaper.

In 1987 Dame Mary Durack became a Fellow of Curtin University and was commended by the Childrens' Book Council in 1965 for The Courteous Savage: Yagan of Swan River (1964), illustrations by Elizabeth Durack. The title was changed to Yagan of the Bibbulmun (1976), illustrations by Revel Cooper, a Bibbulmun descendant, as 'savage' was now considered racist.

Dame Mary Durack was a director and patron of the Stockmans' Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, and a former executive member of the Aboriginal Cultural Foundation. She was a member of the Australian Society of Women Writers, The Royal Western Australian Historical Society, the National Trust and honorary life member of International PEN Australia.

The Australian Irish Heritage Association of WA conducts the Mary Durack Memorial Lecture commemorating the distinguished writer and their first patron. In 1979 the Western Australian Shires of Mundaring, Kalamunda and the Cities of Armadale and Swan established the Mary Durack Award.

On 2 December 1938 Mary married Capt. Horace Clive Miller OBE (died 1980) and they had six children.

Sources used to compile this entry: http://dargo.vicnet.au/ozlit/writers.cfm?id=242 accessed 14/05/2002, http://www.cbc.org.au/wa/author2.htm accessed 14/05/2002 and http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/youngwritcomp.html accessed 14/05/2002.