Lyndall Hadow's family background had a strong writing influence. Her mother, Florence (Collings) Stuart, was one of the first female journalists in Western Australia, writing under the pen-name 'Hypatia'. Her father, Julian Stuart (q.v.) was at one point editor of the Westralian Worker, and one of her brothers was the writer Donald R. Stuart (q.v.).

Hadow worked as a journalist and was for many years editor of Our Women. The WA Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers made her an Honorary Life Member. Making the short story her forte, she was described as a perfectionist from the realist school who wrote with a "warm earthiness". With her death in 1976, the Western Australian Section of the Fellowship of Australian Writers set up the Lyndall Hadow Short Story Award.