Sinclair was born in Sydney, the son of a suburban accountant. He was educated at Knox Grammar School and at the University of Sydney, where he graduated in arts and law. Later, he practised law in Sydney, but soon developed an interest in farming, and acquired a property near Tamworth, in the New England region of northern New South Wales. In 1956, he married Margaret Tarrant, with whom he had three children. After the death of his wife from brain cancer in 1967, he married again in 1970, to Rosemary Fenton, a former Miss Australia 1960, with whom he has one son. His eldest daughter, Fiona, is married to the former Australian Politician Peter King.