Robin Levett attended the Hermitage School and Toorak College, Mount Eliza. She then studied at the National Gallery School where she won a travelling scholarship. Levett had a brief stint in the navy before joining the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service; while with the Service she was based in Rangoon. After World War II she spent some time in England prior to returning to Australia to work for British Signals Intelligence.
Levett married Geoffrey Levett in the early 1950s and both she and her husband became involved in the horse racing industry as breeders, owners and racers. Together they ran two thoroughbred studs at Kilmore, Victoria. Levett was also President of the Kilmore Turf Club from 1989 to 1994.
Following Geoffrey Levett's death in 1990 Levett turned her attention to writing. She published her autobiography, The Girls, in 1997 and wrote other non-fiction books on horse racing, fly fishing and civil war.
Levett married Nick Hudson when both were in their seventies. Not long after entering this new chapter of her life this she was diagnosed with cancer. She continued to work, travel and entertain for a further four years until her death.
Major source: Gerry Carman, 'First Lady of Racing Also a Gifted Author', Sydney Morning Herald (16-17 August 2008):36.
