She was born in Australia in 1948. She lived in South Africa for 40 years, departing in 2010 to her birthplace. She studied art, practising silversmith and ceramicist. She participated to film training in Johannesburg, South Africa with Ateliers Varan, in 1983 at the University of Witwatersrand, Continuing Education Department. Between 1992 and 1993, she also studied Community Development in the University of Witwatersrand. Julie Henderson was a member of the Direct Cinema Workshop from 1983 to 2000. She also worked in community development for the N.G.O. Women for Peace. The director used the knowledge gained from Varan training by creating informal backyard township video centres. She trained unemployed township youth in video production and job creation for 20 years. Nowadays, as a retired director, she returned to Australia to open a rural art gallery specializing in textiles.

In 1980, Donné studied Fine Arts for two years at the Technikon Witwatersrand, then, in 1982, she set up an art workshop with Dumasani Mabaso in Johannesburg. In 1985, she was a trainee at Ateliers Varan in South Africa and Paris and was part of the creation of the Direct Cinema Workshop. From then and on, she worked in several films in South Africa and abroad up to 2011, for instance, she worked on the documentaries of Emanuelle Bidou, Ramadan Suleman or André Van In. Donné now works as an artist represented by the Art Eye Gallery in Johannesburg and she's currently teaching art to children.