Miriam's parents Alfred and Mary Ellen Ulyatt had a lease at Muckaty Station in 1939 about 150km north of Tennant Creek. The three Ulyatt girls were the first children enrolled in the Alice Springs School of the Air. Miriam kept the family amused by publishing a private newspaper/comic strip which featured Muckaty's residents. From the age of eight she would help her father round up the cattle and muster cattle along with doing general station duties. After she matriculated she went over to Humbert River Station as the governess/ bookkeeper in 1958. She then went to Alice Springs to work as a laboratory clerk for the Department of Primary Production until 1961 where she met and married Allan James Hagan. They had four children, three daughters and one son. Miriam started oil painting landscapes seriously once the children were grown up, painting the areas surrounding Muckaty Station. She has been very successful selling her works around the world, one of her paintings is at Buckingham Palace. In 1977 she was awarded ‘Best Local Artist' in the CWA'A inaugural art award and again 1984 and 1986. In 1984 she exhibited at the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery.,