One of nine children, born in a tiny village in Slovenia, Cilka left home at 12 years of age to begin high school in Ljubljana. After graduating from teachers college in Celje, she taught for 3 years before leaving Slovenia with her husband in 1963 to come to Australia.
She had been putting thoughts on paper since she was 10 years old. Although she felt at a loss in her first year here, she obtained a Batchelor of Education Degree, majoring in Intercultural Studies in Perth and also majored in Justice Studies at another university.
For 30years she worked as a primary school teacher, mainly in special education, and also as an adult education teacher for a few years with TAFE and Western college.
She is an accredited translator and interpreter for Centrelink, local court, health services and the police, and has been an aboriginal liaison officer and have often represented the views of Aborigines and migrants.
Cilka has lived in Lightning Ridge since 1968 and besides being an occasional miner, cutter and seller of the local rainbow gem Black Opal, she has also written many books and articles of literature. Several of these are all about life, culture and history of Lightning Ridge, about opal miners and particularly men and women from numerous countries, who came to Lightning Ridge in search of love and wealth. She also collected local Aboriginal legends and history, and wrote Gamilaroi words for the first Aboriginal dictionary, which is used in schools as teaching aide.
 Many of her books have been published both in Slovenian and English, here and abroad. She is a great example of a Slovenian Australian with deep roots in both countries. Congratulation, Cilka!
CILKA ZAGAR, rojena na Dolenjskem, živi v Avstralije že od 1963. leta. V Sloveniji je končala učiteljišče, tukaj ša je nadaljevala študij v Perthu. Sedaj že nekaj let živi v Lightning Ridgu, kjer je napisala že vrsto knjig, v katerih predvsem opisuje življenje avstralskih domorodcev in iskalcev opalov. Objavila je veliko člankov in pesmi v raznih časopisih in revijah. Je oseba, ki spoštuje dve domovini: Slovenijo in Avstralijo. Čestitamo, Cilka!

Na  sliki Barry Walsh, Chairman of  Panthers  Group in Martha Magajna, President HASA NSW