Violet Madge Jones was born on 22 March 1917 at Cobak, Tweed River, New South Wales. Madge attended Coolangatta State School and Brisbane State High School. Madge was the secretary and a member of the Royal Queensland Art Society from 1940 to 1966. She married Albert Errol Staunton (1905-1962), a book trader, on 2 Oct 1937. They had a daughter, Madonna Pearl Staunton, on 6 October 1938 while living at Murwillumbah. In 1951 the Staunton family moved to Brisbane. Madge Staunton, a poet and artist, lived most of her life in Queensland. She began writing poetry in the 1970s. She won two Henry Lawson Festival awards (1974,1975); won the Silver Jubilee Henry Lawson Festival Award (1982); won Highly Commended for the Anne Elder Award (1982). She was involved in the visual arts, and adjudicator of many poetry competitions. Madge Staunton died on 18 April 1985.