ABSTRACT
Vincent Roth had a strange, some might say sad, childhood. He was born in Brisbane on 29 September 1889. Shortly after his birth the family moved to South Australia, and then again to Sydney. When he was about 10 months old his mother, Eva, took ill and died. His father, Walter, was in a quandary as to what to do, as he wanted to return to England to qualify as a doctor. After a long discussion with his brother Reuter, Walter decided to leave Vincent in the care of the nuns at the Parramatta Convent. Subsequently he was adopted by a maiden aunt in Scotland and spent his formative years in Scotland, Switzerland and Australia. When in 1935 he retired from Government Service due to ill health, Vincent joined a local newspaper as second editor, contributing articles and also writing books about the flora and fauna of the Colony.
