Rosemary was born in Glen Innes, the daughter of Hope Scherf and the famous ace fighter pilot Squadron Leader Charles Curnow Scherf. Her maternal  grandfather, Herb O’Hara, was the local vet while her father’s people owned large properties between Glen Innes and Emmaville.

Before her father’s untimely death in a car accident, Rosemary lived at Big Ben, Emmaville, but later moved to Glen Innes where she attended the Glen Innes High School. Graduating with a Masters degree in French Literature from the University of New England, Rosemary spent her career as Head of Department in various schools throughout NSW, Qld and Hong Kong

Her novel published in  2022  brings two biographies together: the early life, achievements and mysterious death of her ill-fated father and the plight of the daughter, dispossessed from the family estate and obliged to grow up in relative poverty as a ward of Legacy. It is not a simple narrative of events but follows the development of two tortured minds trying to navigate the brutal reality of their existence in a small- minded community.

 In the daughter’s life-long search for understanding and forgiveness lies the glimmer of hope that ultimately outshines the tragic events of the novel