Roseanne was born in Katherine.  She has lived and worked at Santa Theresa and Amoonguna in Central Australia.  
Her father, Michael Nelson Jakamarra, is a well known Papunya artist, and she stayed with him in that community at holiday times.  She watched him paint and learned, as he guided her and showed her what Dreaming to paint.   Then, together with her sister Marie, they initiated the Art Centre at Amoonguna, and continued their involvement in working there and developing the Centre.