Coralie Rockwell studied at the University of Sydney completing an Honours degree in music in 1966 and a Diploma of Education in 1967, then a Masters degree in ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her thesis was published in 1972 as 'Kagok: A traditional Korean vocal form'. She sang alto with the Leonine Consort, the Sydney University Renaissance Players and the ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) in the 1960s and 1970s. She taught at high schools and colleges in Sydney and in Canberra, then at the Canberra School of Music in 1989-1990 teaching the first non-Western music course offered there. She undertook research in Indonesia and South Korea, specialising in the kayagum (12-string zither) and undertook studies in both the Korean and Chinese languages (the latter at the Canberra College of Advanced Education with Michael Sawer). From 1988 to 1990 she undertook doctoral research under Dr Allan Marett at the University of Sydney on the reconstruction of ninth century musical scores from Dunhuang, Gansu Province in China. On her death in 1991, the Coralie Rockwell Foundation was formed and realised her wish to purchase an Indonesian gamelan orchestra for the Canberra School of Music.