Rosemary van den Berg was born at Moore River Native Settlement. Her parents moved to Pinjarra when she was five years old, where they bought a five acre block of land. Van den Berg grew up with five sisters and four brothers. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (English) and a Ph.D. from Curtin University.
Van den Berg has worked for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Perth, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the Australian Public Service in the area of Aboriginal Affairs. She has also been a writer and an editor, as well as an historian, a grandmother and an Aboriginal Elder.
Van den Berg is the fourth daughter of Thomas Corbett who was the subject of her book, No Options, No Choice! : The Moore River Experience : My Father, Thomas Corbett, an Aboriginal Half-Caste (1994).