Joan Sutherland was born in Sydney, and her mother was a mezzo soprano who had given up her career. She learned a lot from her mother, with whom she used to sing and listen to many recordings. She attended St Catherine's School, Waverley, the oldest Anglican girls' school in Sydney. When Sutherland was 18, she started to study singing seriously. She debuted in Australia as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, in 1952. Previously, in 1949, she had won Australia's most important competition, The Sun Aria and went to London to study at the Opera School of the Royal College of Music. In 1951, she sang in the world premiere of Eugène Goossens's Judith. She made her European debut as the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on October 28, 1952.

During her early career, she was training to be a Wagnerian dramatic soprano, following the steps of Kirsten Flagstad, whom she considers the best singer ever. In 1953, she sang her first title role at the Royal Opera House: Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. Later, she sang Aida. Also in 1953, she sang in the world premiere of Benjamin Britten's Gloriana. In 1954, she married the conductor and pianist, Richard Bonynge. He convinced her to concentrate on the bel canto repertoire, since she had great ease at the high notes and coloratura. From 1954 to 1958, she sang successfully a large repertoire, from coloratura roles to dramatic ones: Eva in Die Meistersinger, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Desdemona in Otello, Gilda in Rigoletto, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and many others.

In 1957, she debuted as Alcina, starting her work on rediscovering the forgotten operas from the Baroque and Bel Canto eras. In 1958, she sang Madame Lidoine in the English premiere of Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites.