After only a brief education he worked in various jobs, mainly in the bush as a roustabout, boundary-rider, railway fettler, fencer, dam-builder, gardener and as a lifelong love - a ballet dancer.
As well as a writer and poet, Robinson was dance critic for The Sydney Morning Herald in the 1950s and 1960s.
Robinson was a distinguished poet and writer who spent his later years in Lake Macquarie.
After his death in 1992, Lake Macquarie City Council established The Roland Robinson Literary Award, an annual award to honour Robinson's contribution to literature and culture, and to foster creative literary talent in the city.
In 1997, Lake Macquarie City Council named the new library at Belmont in his honour.