Dorothy Shineberg attained a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours from the University of Melbourne in 1947. From 1948-1950 she lectured in history at the Australian School of Pacific Administration. After two years at Smith College, Massachusetts Shineberg returned to the University of Melbourne where she gave the first courses in Pacific History ever taught at an Australian University. In 1961, Shineberg began a PhD at the University of Melbourne examining the role of traders in early European contact with Pacific peoples. In 1964, she became a Research Fellow at the Department of Pacific History, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. At ANU Shineberg continued her research into the history of the Pacific including a major study of the labour trade in New Caledonia. She also spent time at Brown University, Rhode Island and the University of the South Pacific, Suva. She was co editor of the Journal of Pacific History and officially retired in 1988, but continued to work as a Visiting Fellow in the Division of Pacific and Asian History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.