Arnold Rowlands was born on 17th April 1925 in Siaochang, Hopei Province in northern China. In 1937 he travelled with his mother and younger sister via the Trans-Siberian Railway to England where he continued his education. His father who worked at the North China mission station in Siaochang followed soon after. His parents returned to China just prior to the outbreak of war in 1939 to work for the London Missionary Society. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour they were interned by the Japanese until the end of the war. ;;;;Meanwhile, In 1942 Arnold had finished his education at Taunton School, Somerset before being called up in June of the following year to join the Royal Navy. After being demobbed in October 1946 he joined his parents in Edinburgh where he obtained a Diploma in Architecture from Edinburgh University in 1951. ;;;;He emigrated to Tasmania in 1960 and gained work with a firm of architects in Launceston where he married Mavis in 1962. Later that year they moved to Devonport where he worked with another firm of architects until moving to Burnie in 1966 to work as an architect with the Public Works Department. Here he continued to work until his retirement in 1990.;;;;Arnold was involved for many years in a wide range of environment and community groups. These include the Tasmanian Conservation Trust of which he was a life member, the Tasmanian Wilderness Society of which he was a foundation member, North West Walking Club, Tasmanian Greens, Tasmanian Environment Association, Tasmanian Conservation Foundation, Peddar 2000, Weindorfer Memorial Service Committee, Coastal East Timor Group, West Papua Group, and Burnie School for Seniors. He was also involved with Freedom From Hunger Campaign, including at the time of its transition into Community Aid Abroad which in turn became Oxfam. He wrote numerous letters to the Editor as well as to state and national politicians and foreign embassies.