Rowland received his education at
Caulfield Grammar School in his hometown. He learned piano and was a keyboard player for Australian music groups and singers. He played drums on
Shawn Phillips's
Second Contribution album, published in 1970. Rowland is best known for having composed the soundtrack to the 1982 film
The Man from Snowy River and its 1988 sequel
The Man from Snowy River II (which has the
United States title of
Return to Snowy River, and the
United Kingdom title of
The Untamed). Both films were based on
Banjo Paterson's poem
The Man from Snowy River. His other film scores include
Now and Forever (1983),
Phar Lap (1983),
Bushfire Moon (1987),
Cheetah (1989),
Weekend with Kate (1990),
Gross Misconduct (1993),
Andre (1994),
Lightning Jack (1994),
Zeus and Roxanne (1997) and the TV movie
Tidal Wave: No Escape (1997). He also composed the score for the TV miniseries
All the Rivers Run (1983) and its sequel (1990). Rowland composed the music to the
Oscar-nominated animated short film
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005). Some of his early work was in television, where he was musical director for ATV0's
The Go!! Show, ''
Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go and the Magic Circle Club, then Adventure Island'' for the
ABC. He composed a special Olympics version of the main theme of
The Man from Snowy River for the Opening Ceremony of the
2000 Summer Olympics, as well as conducting the orchestra for the performance.
The Man From Snowy River soundtrack has featured four times in
ABC Classic's annual
Classic 100 Countdown, peaking at 18 in the 2025 'Piano' countdown. This made it the highest-ranking entry by an Australian composer.
NBC Sports uses music from
The Man from Snowy River soundtrack for their coverage of
The Players Championship. ==Discography==