Roderick was born in 1916, the son of John MacKillop and Peggy Munro of 11 Borve. He was a pupil at Berneray School between 1922 and 1930. He later became a sea captain and married Margaret Nisbet. They made their home in New South Wales, Australia. 

Roderick was a generous contributor to the School of Scottish Studies sound archive. The recordings are available on the Tobar an Dualchais website. A convenient way to access them is via his biography page. One of the recordings provides some detail on both his own family and other MacKillops on Berneray.