Born to a Bundjalung mother and a Belgian father, Fabienne worked for the Native Title Unit, Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, and in the Parliamentary Research Unit. After moving from Canberra to Adelaide, she concentrated more on her writing and motherhood. She filled her days with reading, and writing, and she was working towards a PhD in creative writing.

Her first book, a fiction-memoir Finding Ullagundahi Island (2002), was written as a letter to her daughter. The book was a new take on biography, identity and fiction. Fabienne’s second major work, Watershed (2005), was a more personal exploration of relationships, struggle and grief. 

She received many national awards for her work, as well as the admiration of distinguished writers.