Bill Dunn's mother was an Indigenous woman, of the Martukaja people, and his father was a miner who did not acknowledge Dunn as his son. Instead Dunn was cared for by his Indigenous step-father and European miners in the area.
By the age of ten, Dunn was an experienced drover of sheep and cattle. When he was about thirty years old, Dunn applied to lease some land so he could become a pastoralist; however, conventions at the time did not allow for an Indigenous Australian to own land and Dunn's application was rejected for political reasons. However, in the 1960s, with help of pastoralist friends, Dunn was able to make a successful application for a block of land (Mount Divide) that he partnered with a friend. They were successful enough on their cattle station that Dunn was able to buy a second block of land closer to the Jigalong township.
Dunn was a sought-after guide and bushman with a number of explorations and surveys of the area, including the Southern Canning Basin area, by geologists looking for petroleum. He took part in the first attempt to cross the Great Sandy Desert by motorized transport.
By the age of seventy, Dunn was unable to keep up the work it took to run the station. Mount Divide was sold and Dunn moved onto his second smaller station, Robertson Range, near Jigalong. Dunn was involved with the Jigalong community which had ceased being a Mission Station in 1970.When Robertson Range, too, became difficult for Dunn to manage, Dunn sold it at half the value to the traditional land owners, even though there were several full-price offers from non-Indigenous people wanting the station.
