Sir Roland Theodore Symonette, NH (16 December 1898[1] – 13 March 1980) was a Bahamian politician and the first Premier of the Bahamas after self-government was achieved in 1964.

Later he tried to make his way as a fisherman and a tomato farmer in Riviera Beach, Florida, and then during Prohibition, Symonette transported whiskey to the United States.

Bahamian citizens could legally buy and transport alcohol as long as they stayed outside US territorial waters.

[3] With the profits from bootlegging, Symonette invested in real estate, hotels, and a shipyard which built boats for the British Navy during WWII.

He and his second wife, the former Thelma Bell Clepper of Andalusia, Alabama, had a son, Robert "Bobby" and a daughter, Zelda.

[4] A community park in the settlement of Current, Eleuthera, Bahamas was named for him, a stone's throw from his birthplace, on what would have been his 111th birthday on 16 December 2009.