Leila Rankine grew up on Raukkan (Pt McLeay Aboriginal Reserve) and spent her childhood among her family and relatives, and elderly Aboriginal people. (See the account of their life in My Side of the Bridge, by her sister Veronica Brodie). Her family camped for many years at Ngarlung on the Coorong shore of Younghusband Peninsula, and this created an awareness and an interest in the Coorong area which is evident in her poetry. Her talk 'What the Coorong Means to Me' on Radio 5UV was published in Issue vol 4, no 13, Jun 1974, p 30. She began her writing at Raukkan. Leila was a tireless worker for her people and their culture. She talked at schools and colleges, and took people on camping trips to the Coorong. She was among those who worked to get the 'Aboriginal' community college established at the Torrens College of Advanced Education in 1973, and was involved from the start and Chairperson for many years of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) at the University of Adelaide, which offered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders an opportunity to learn how to use music for cultural identity and as a bridge between different societies. In later life she had to have a leg amputated, and chose death rather than a second amputation. She had five children.
