Dawn was born in 1953 in Hermannsburg. She is the daughter of Pastor Peter Buller, a Lutheran missionary of whom she has fond memories of, and recalls learning to make music sticks from him.

Dawn married in 1970 and has two daughters, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. They live at their outstation near Ntaria - Rrirrkathathaka (Red Sand Hill).

Dawn draws on the landscape around her, her love of her father's country, who's memory has inspired her to maintain links to her Luritja heritage through her art practice.

Dawn is a respected Senior artist, she is a precise and methodical potter, and her style has been noted for her considered figurative story telling.