Rodd was born on 12 March 1905 in Sydney and gained a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Sydney in 1931. Rodd was a practicing Anglican, and had considered entering the priesthood rather than pursuing education. He met novelist
Kylie Tennant at the University of Sydney and they married in 1932. During the 1930s and 1940s, Rodd worked at public schools in
Coonabarabran,
Canowindra,
Dulwich Hill and Mullswellbrook as a teacher, and as headmaster in
Laurieton and
Hunters Hill. Rodd contributed regularly to the League's journal, the
Education Worker from 1932 to 1936, arguing for changes to the curriculum. He registered as a
conscientious objector during
World War II. After the World War II, Rodd, Tennant and Tennant's father, formed a publishing company, Sirius Books, to re-publish Tennant's novels. It also published "cheap" Australian editions of other novels. == Retirement and later years ==