Susan McGowan came to Australia with her parents in 1913, disembarking in Cairns. They spent short periods on the Tablelands at Gordonvale and Perramon near Lake Eachem, and moved to South Australia in 1915.
At the end of her secondary schooling she completed a business training course and was employed in secretarial positions, the last being with Sir Josiah Symon, retired QC. She decided to be a teacher, and trained through the independent schools' training centre at Methodist Ladies' College, while at the same time studying at the Elder Conservatorium (DipMus). She was one of the first students of Dalcroze Eurythmics, under Heather Gell.
Her acceptance to be a Loreto Sister (Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in 1931 involved an eight years' training period. She taught at Loreto in Toorak, Victoria for ten years, in Western Australia for twelve years, and in Adelaide, South Australia for eight years. She spent four years in Ballarat, Victoria, then moved to Normanhurst, New South Wales, for ten years. It was here that she wrote her first poems, after encouragement from David Malouf, and met and became a friend of Gwen Harwood. In July, 1977 McGowan went to Shrewsbury, UK, for a Renewal course, and this experience also contributed to her poetry.
She returned to Adelaide in December 1977, and in 1978 retired to Marryatville, South Australia where she compiled and published her collections. She still had unpublished manuscripts - a collection of children's poems, religious poetry, short stories and articles. In 1982 she did the radio programmes By the Way (two episodes) and Evening Meditation (three episodes). She was a Life Member of the Society of Women Writers (former state President and national Vice-President), and of the Fellowship of Australian Writers and the South Australian Writers' Centre. She was involved a member of Friendly Street Poets from 1978 until her death in 2003.
The photographs in her collections are by Kay Gordon, of Belair, South Australia.
