Constance Mackness, teacher and author, was born in Tuena, New South Wales in 1882 and educated at Fort Street Model School and the University of Sydney. She entered the teaching profession and was chosen in 1917 as the founding headmistress of the Presbyterian Girls' College, Warwick, Queensland, where she taught for the next 30 years. She published ten novels for children including Gem of the Flat (1914), and wrote articles and short stories for The Bulletin and local newspapers. She retired from teaching in 1949 and died in Brisbane in 1973.