Pamela Lukin Watson was born on 23 July 1927. She worked as an anthropologist and anthropology tutor at the University of Queensland. She was awarded a pharmacy degree from the Brisbane Central Technical College (now Queensland University of Technology) in 1950. She married an American, Robert Watson, and moved to the United States for a brief period, where she worked as a tour guide of the headquarters of the United Nations. The couple returned to Australia when Robert fell ill. After his death, Watson returned to university studies as a mature-age student, completing a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Anthropology from the University of Queensland in 1980. She then earned an anthropology PhD from the University of Queensland in 1987. Her research predominately focused on ethnopharmacology in Australia and Papua New Guinea. In 1998, Watson published Frontier lands and pioneer legends: how pastoralists gained Karuwali land. The book was shortlisted for 'an outstanding contribution to Australian culture' at the 1998 Centre for Australian Cultural Studies awards.