She was born in London and raised in Sussex amid a politically active family. Her grandparents, Charles and Marie Corbett, were active in the Liberal Party. Her mother Cicely and aunt Dame Margery Corbett Ashby were prominent suffragists.
Her father, Chalmers "Pat" Fisher, was an Irish Quaker who worked as a journalist and businessman.
Bridget spent a year in Geneva in the late 1930s before serving as a nurse with the Voluntary Aid Detachment during World World War World War II The Gillings settled in Castlecrag, and had four children. She was chair of the Australian Consumers Association board, and was also involved with the Prison Reform Council, the Australian Council of Social Service, the Women"s Electoral Lobby, the Council for Civil Liberties, and Zero Population Growth. In 1975 she joined the Australian Labor Party, remaining an active member until her death.
Gilling received particular attention as a campaigner for birth control and abortion law reform.
She was also involved in the campaign against the Hawke Government"s Australia Card proposal in 1987, becoming a trustee of the Australian Privacy Foundation.
Bridget graduated from the University of Sydney in social work in 1971, and was appointed to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, the Mental Health Review Tribunal, and as an ombudsman in the New South Wales prison system.
She was president of the Humanist Society and the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, and ran for several elections during the early 1970s as a member of the Australia Party.
