Henderson-Yates was born in Derby, Western Australia, and was the eldest child in a family of eight. Her brother James Patrick Taylor went missing in 1974 after being seen entering the van of a white male and the case of his disappearance was never solved. Many years later in 2014 Henderson-Yates prompted a re-opening of the investigation after it emerged that James Ryan O'Neill was in Derby around the time of James' disappearance. She became a teaching assistant in the local area and continued to work her way up the education system over the next 35 years. By 2008 she was an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame and established the Nulungu Research Institute to study indigenous Australians in a culturally sensitive manner. She became the first director of the centre. In 2009 she was appointed to the position of deputy-vice chancellor at Broome campus, University of Notre Dame, a milestone for aboriginal women. Two years later, as a result of these achievements, Henderson-Yates was awarded the Person of the Year award by the National Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Committee of Kullari Region. Student numbers at the small university campus have been in decline which has resulted in Henderson-Yates and colleagues having to slash back the number of staff. However in 2012 the campus unveiled a new classroom to help improve the literacy skills of local aboriginal students. As part of her research she co-wrote a 2014 report into university accessibility to indigenous people of Australia and the Torres islands entitled 'You Can't Be What You Can't See', as well as a book about reconciliation in Australia called 'Take Off Your Shoes, Walk On The Ground: The Journey Towards Reconciliation in Australia'. Henderson-Yates is also CEO of the Derby Aboriginal Health Service, which provides support and education of healthcare to the indigenous Australians of the region. Aboriginal people in the area suffer from high rates of mental illness and suicide numbers are abnormally high. The DAHS works to resolve these issues, however it struggles with the extensive funding this requires, and which the government is reluctant to provide.
