Growing up in a small country town, the daughter of a local doctor and shire councillor, Maggie Dawkins is fascinated by the social dynamics which exist in plain sight. Being sent to boarding school at 9 years of age, and having taught maximum security prisoners in Fremantle prison honed her observation and survival skills.
There are advantages to being an outsider in rural communities. When living in Katanning, Maggie had the privilege to choose where her allegiance lay, and it wasn't with the ruling class, who were more than happy to accept her into the fold, it was with former high school hostel residents who had been sexually abused as young boys. It was the beginning of a lifelong commitment to advocacy for the victims, survivors and their families. Maggie accepted the Blue Knot award in 2013, which recognised her service to adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
Having lived on a vineyard in the Barossa Valley in South Australia for 30 years, Maggie prefers to divide her time between Moonta Bay overlooking the Spencer Gulf and the equestrian community of Darling Downs on the southern outskirts of Perth, where she lives happily adjacent to her daughter Alice, in the company of horses and dogs.
She is married to former Federal Treasurer John Dawkins, who was a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments.