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Ron Mould
Kybeyan

Ronald Mackay Mould

Ronald Mackay Mould was born at "Arthella", Middlingbank, on the 17th January 1909; he was the second child and only son born to Arthur and Ellen Mould. He received his primary school education at a little school close to his home, near "Rockbrook", then went on to finish his education at the Monaro Grammar School at Canberra. He particularly enjoyed playing football amongst other sports.

After leaving school Ron worked with his father at "Arthella" and on their Snow Leases, in the early 30's he was an agent for Pitt Son and Badgery, and also bought a grazing block at "Moonbah". Prior to World War Two, Ron served for five years in the Lighthorse at Goulbourn. Ron was also a very active sportsman at this time; he was a member of the Cooma Tennis Club, Golf, Football and Cricket Clubs and also a member of the Australian Alpine Ski Club.

In January 1936 Ron married Nancy Rose of "Magellan", Via Cooma, they were married at St Thomas's Church, Middlingbank and lived with Ron's parents at "Arthella" until late 1940 when Ron joined the RAAF. Ron sold his "Moonbah" property in 1937 and purchased 8,000 acres at "Kybeyan", north of Nimmitabel. 

Ron entered the RAAF on The 16th September 1940 and at about that time his wife Nancy and his two daughters, Rosanne and Marylyn moved to "Kybeyan" to live. Their third daughter Raylee was born in June 1941 when Ron was training in Canada. Nancy's brother 'Pad', and his family lived at "Kybeyan" with the family during the war.

As mentioned earlier Ron joined the RAAF in late 1940, he trained and served as a Wireless Operator, Air Gunner, Pilot Officer and Flying Officer; he did a number of tours in Bomber Command with the 460 Sqaudron in Wellingtons and Lancasters. As a Sergeant/Wireless operator in 1942 Ron was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for "his exceptional keen sense of duty and determination, his initiative, keenness and gallantry." Prior to being demobbed he had achieved the rank of Flying Officer.

On returning from the war Ron had the daunting job of developing "Kybeyan" into a successful grazing property. After the War and in the early fifties Ron was one of the pioneers, on the Monaro, in the practice of clearing timber and sowing pasture by the use of mechanical machinery, on a large scale. Originally the timber clearing operation was performed by three International TD 24 Crawler tractors, two of them pulling a steel rope between them, and the third trailing behind, lifting the cable for higher leverage and helping to push the larger timber. Ron employed mostly Dutch immigrants to drive the machinery and to do the stick picking, of these people Con and Yope Wassink stayed on at "Kybeyan", and they both have their own properties nearby today.

Plowing and sowing were executed by kerosene powered International Farmall tractors pulling a variety of chisel and disc plows and seeders. The basic pastures sown were a mixture of Perennial Rye grass and Subterranean Clover. In the late fifties, Ron did a lot of experimenting, in co-operation with the CSIRO, into the development and use of various varieties of Phalaris, Fescue, Cocksfoot and other grasses,

He succeeded in boosting production by the use of these grasses. Experimenting with fertilizers gave Ron his greatest breakthrough at "Kybeyan" he had found that 'topdressing with Superphosphate was encouraging in these light granite soils, but the huge improvement came with the inclusion of very small amounts of trace elements, this discovery only came about after persistent trailing of many combinations of trace elements with Superphosphate

All of "Kybeyan" was cleared and sown using the method mentioned above, and on completion Ron contracted to clear other properties in the Kybeyan, Nimmitabel and Countageny districts using the same equipment.

The development of the Merino flock at "Kybeyan" was based on Haddon Rig blood lines, Ron did the sheep classing himself and under his management, at it's peak the 8,000 acre property had a running capacity of 12,000 sheep and over 500 head of cattle (including an Aberdeen Angus Stud). 

Sheep handling was the most intensive part of the farm operation as all the sheep needed to be drenched monthly to control Liver Fluke infestations. Ron worked closely with Arch Sinclair of William Cooper and Nephew in the development of spray and dip chemicals for the control of Itchmite and Lice and in researching the different methods of application of these products.

One of the many 'cost saving enterprises' employed by Ron was the purchase of second hand Steel and Buildings from the Snowy Mountains Hyro-Electric Authority, this material was used to build stockyards, ramps, shearing sheds, shearing quarters, stockmen’s houses, workshops, haysheds, shelter sheds etc at "Kybeyan", "Dangelong" and "Middlingbank".

As "Kybeyan" was developed into smaller paddocks, the bulldozers were used to dig out the dams for stock watering from the many good springs. On subdividing "Kybeyan", it was necessary to use rabbit netting on all the fences as rabbits are a very bad problem in that area, in the late 50's and during the 60's up to three men were employed in the winter, trapping and poisoning rabbits. Dingoes and Wombats were also a bad problem, especially on those parts of "Kybeyan" that backed on to the Brown Mountain National Park, baiting of animal carcasses dropped into the park from the air was the most successful method of eradication. Ron was that concerned about Rabbit and Dingo control that he made himself available as a member of the Cooma Pastures Board for many years. Because of the high percentage of lamb deaths at "Kybeyan" in the early days Ron worked very closely with Dr John Haliday (Sydney University) in researching the relationship of fox and Hawk populations to lamb loss.

One of Ron's proudest achievements was Kybeyan's Stud and Commercial Aberdeen Angus Herds, over the years Ron invested a great deal of time and money developing these herds. "Kybeyan" heifers and 'cast for age' cows have been used as the foundation females for a number of Angus herds and Murray Grey Studs. In the early days Ron and his neighbors held annual cattle sales at the "Kybeyan" cattle yards.

Ron took the responsibility of educating his children very seriously, he sent his three daughters to Ascham" and his son Pattrick to "Cranbrook", private schools in Sydney, and he provided the girls with a home in Latimer Road, Bellevue Hill to use while they were at University etc. Later he sent his son James to Geelong Grammar. In 1960 the house in Bellevue Hill was sold and the money was used to partly finance the purchase of the 11,000 acre grazing property "Dangelong" from the Scottish Australian Company. "Dangelong" is situated approximately 15 Kms south -east of Cooma.

For most of his life Ron was very involved in politics at Local, Federal and State levels. He had a close affiliation with many people in politics, both in the branches and in Parliament, he was instrumental in many major political decisions and achievements. He also held many formal positions in the Liberal Party, of particular note were his roles as Campaign Director for Dugald Munro (Federal Member for Eden Monaro) and Steve Mauger (State Member for Monaro), both of these campaigns were successful.

Most of Ron's closer friends were fishing mates, he loved fly-fishing and was an expert, and he always made sure that the Kybeyan River was well stocked with Rainbow and Brown Trout. Ron did quite a lot of business with his fishing friends and conversely, a lot of his business and political friends became his fishing friends. Ron's other hobbies were mostly around the garden, anybody who has had a look around the gardens at Kybeyan would see a reflection here of the great vision and talent that Ron displayed in all his undertakings, the house, the huge stone walls and the stone driveways, are magnificent.

In November 1962 Ron lost his first wife, Nancy. He lived alone at "Kybeyan" until his marriage to Wendy Hall on 22^nd November 1965. Wendy became very involved in the management of "Kybeyan", and at the same time she nursed Ron for many years, throughout a persistent illness. Ron passed away on the 17th February 1979, at "Kybeyan", where his ashes where distributed. Wendy has been managing "Kybeyan" very successfully since then.