Lorraine McGee-Sippel is a descendant of the Yorta Yorta people from the Murray–Goulburn region on the Victorian-NSW border. She worked in a variety of jobs after she left high school, and in her late twenties she took up a career in nursing. Her biography, Hey Mum, What's a Half-Caste? was twice shortlisted for the David Unaipon Award. In 2008 she received the Inaugural Yabun Elder of the Year Award for her contribution to Reconciliation and Community Work.