Rosemary was born in Oxfordshire, England in 1942 during the Second World War. Her parents’ home was in London, but with the bombing of London her pregnant mother had been evacuated to the country. After the war, Rosemary’s father, who hadn’t been allowed to ‘join up’ as his work as an industrial chemist specialising in paints was deemed essential work, decided on a rural life. Rosemary grew up on a farm in Kent. It was living and contributing to the dairy farm’s activities, being surrounded by animals, plants and her parents’ garden that meant love for nature was a process of osmosis. When she finished school she trained as a Physical Education teacher. She started work as a teacher in 1963, the same year that she married and went to Hong Kong where her husband was in the Merchant Navy. They moved back to England in 1965 and then to Australia in 1970 where her husband trained as an air traffic controller and then worked as a Flight Service Officer.  After several moves, they finally took up residence in Canberra in 1978.  They bought a house in the then seven-year-old suburb of Flynn where Rosemary still lives.

In the 1980s, when her children were more independent, Rosemary refreshed her teacher training and became a Teacher Librarian at the Scullin Primary School. At the same time, she also furthered her interest in the native plants in her neighbourhood by joining local organisations and participating in walks and field trips. In the 1990s, her volunteer work as a member of the propagation group at the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) introduced her to Black Mountain. 

Rosemary became directly involved in Black Mountain activities from the mid-1990s. She was part of a group of people from various organisations, several of which she was a member, who developed a series of annual leaflets for self-guided walks in spring. They were based on Barbara Daley’s earlier series ‘In flower this week’ for ANBG. They started as roneo-copied sheets but with the help of sponsorship from Telstra, which Rosemary was instrumental in securing, became designed, illustrated and printed brochures.