The daughter of Sydney Lloyd Tregenza and his wife Flora, a High School Principal and an art teacher, and one of two children, Ann Tregenza lived in Renmark and Nuriootpa before moving to Brighton, Adelaide, South Australia (SA). Her first poem was written at the age of three; a long poem called "The Lily Pond" for her grandmother, Lily, illustrated with a drawing. Writing and art work have remained essential, enjoyable, sometimes lucrative activities in Tregenza's life. Music and Art were two of the seven subjects she passed for matriculation, and she studied music part-time at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music for four years while studying for her degree in Physiotherapy. She practised as a physiotherapist for more than thirty years, working in a variety of different positions both within Australia and overseas.
She lived overseas for several years, in Canada, England and Greece and travelled in India and Japan as well as within Australia. Between 1964-1974 Ann wrote and broadcast Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and 5UV Radio talks and had articles and poems published in newspapers and literary journals. In 1979 she took a unit at Flinders University, "The Craft of Poetry". She has had about sixty poems used by the ABC, including three verse dramas. She won a scholarship for Young Writers awarded by the Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) and Armidale University, New South Wales for a month's tuition with established writers at Robb College, Armidale University, 1968. She also had a Special Projects Grant from the Australia Literature Board to work on a novel and a collection of poetry. In 1975 she married Richard Bigg, and during this time, when she lived on the land in NSW with its difficulties and joys, her only writings were letters and a journal of everyday matters during drought conditions. She returned to SA in the mid-80s to care for her parents in their last years. During this period (1985-1992) she wrote only a few poems and worked on a rough draft of a novel about Greek migrants to Australia. She undertook a post-graduate study of ageing, graduating in 1997 from the University of SA with a Masters degree in the Faculty of Health and Bio-Medical Science for the Study of Gerontology.
Ann has had 51 works of art sold, both privately and at exhibitions. She says "The four activities of my work in healing, music and dance, art and writing, have complemented each other throughout my life. I hope this will continue to be so."
