Mary helped to establish Community Child Care in 1973, Australia’s first Children’s Museum in 1985 and the Reggio Emilia Information Exchange in 1995.
In 1965 Mary began a thirty-year life and professional partnership with Australian designer Grant Featherston, they were inaugural inductees into the Design Institute Hall of Fame in 1996.
Mary is an Honorary Senior Fellow of Melbourne University and Adjunct Professor of RMIT University. She is an emeritus director of the Robin Boyd Foundation.