Roslyn Paterson was born and educated in Adelaide. She had a career as a draftsperson and moved to the Yorke Peninsula when she married Willamulka farmer Neil Paterson. Ros Paterson is of Cornish descent on her father's side: her great great grandfather was Walter Phillips, one of the four miners who tested the site of the first copper mining on Yorke Peninsula.

She was a founding member of the organising committee of the Kernewek Lowender and also served as that organisation's vice president. Paterson is a member and former president of the Cornish Association of South Australia. In 1974 she was created a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd, an organisation dedicated to upholding the Celtic traditions of Cornwall by promoting Cornish history, arts, language and culture. In 2001 Paterson was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to South Australia's Cornish community.

Paterson has written extensively about the history of the northern Yorke Peninsula, family history and the Cornish in South Australia.