Mary MacQueen studied for a year at the George Bell School after the war, and for another year at RMIT a decade later. She won the first of her many prizes for drawings and prints, the VAS Drawing Prize, in 1957. An acknowledged master of open line drawings of birds and animals, MacQueen held nearly 30 solo exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne from 1945 onwards. She taught freehand drawing and printmaking at RMIT for some years. Her works are held in the collections of the National Gallery, all state galleries and many regional galleries.