Born in 1915, Australian children's author Dora Joan Potter was the daughter of Irene Florence Potter, and had at least two sisters. She initially trained as a nurse, but - forced to leave school because of ill health - she ended up becoming the secretary of the Math Department of the University of Adelaide. When the department divided, she became the Mathematical Secretary for the Pure Maths section, eventually retiring in 1976. Never married, Potter lived most of her life with her mother, variously in Toorak (1940s), Blackwood and Lower Mitcham (1950s), and Fullarton (1960s). She died in 1987.
The author of one of the few Australian girls' school story series, Potter emphasized Christian values, and Australian virtues - self-reliance, stoicism - in her work.