Isobel Whippy was born at Wiluna, Western Australia, in 1939. After teaching Aboriginal children in the Kimberley area of W.A., and Maori children in northern Aotearoa/New Zealand, she went to Fiji in 1963 and married at Levuka in 1966. She wrote several short plays for school children from 1968 onwards. 'Pritchard', her first major drama, won a $100 prize in a drama contest for the South Pacific Festival of Arts in Suva in May 1972.

Missionary in India, 1842-1857. On his return to England he was, on several occasions, acting Secretary of the London Missionary Society.