Rosemary was born circa 1945 at Utopia, Atneltye (Boundary Bore) outstation in the Northern Territory. Her language group is Anmatyerre. Rosemary was involved in the making of batik at Utopia. In 1994, she, and several other women from Utopia, travelled to Indonesia to learn different techniques of producing batik. After the Summer Project, sponsored by CAAMA in 1988-89, she commenced painting with acrylic on canvas. In her paintings, she incorporates traditional iconography and realistic elements. The themes are primarily bush medicines, yam dreaming and body painting.
As a bush woman, she is familiar with her land and its abundance of bush tucker species, medicine plants and native fauna. These are the stories inherited by her and through her paintings the knowledge is passed on to future generations. Rosemary Petyarre is the sister of Greeny Purvis Petyarre, also a painter.
