Pamela Rajkowski was born of Polish parents and educated in Catholic primary and secondary schools in Adelaide, South Australia, after which she studied to become a secondary school teacher at Flinders University and Sturt College of Advanced Education. She has taught History, Geography, English, Social Studies and Health Education. Between 1979 and 1985 she travelled extensively in southern Australia (except Tasmania) to research, interview and visit places relevant to the history of the Afghan camel people in Australia between 1860 and the 1920s. During South Australia's Jubilee Year (1986) she organised a reunion at Port Augusta, South Australia, for Afghan descendants from South Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, at which a memorial was unveiled.