In the mid-1960s three blocks of land east of Rawlinna Station were made available for lease. About 32 applicants applied for these blocks which later became known as Balgair, Kybo and Desert Downs.
Graeme and Roderick Campbell were granted the middle 760,000 acre virgin block in 1965 and when choosing a name which was short and concise, they decided on Kybo, an old army abbreviation for ‘Keep Your Bowels Open’ taken from their father’s English army manual.
Kybo Station is situated 505 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie and its northern boundary has an approximately 35 kilometre frontage with the Trans- Australian Railway. The country is undulating and has a valley system running from north to south through the entire middle section, associated with a geological fault.
Merino sheep were purchased after the first water and paddocks were developed, but foxes killed the lambs and wool prices crashed, so Brahman cattle were introduced in the early 1970s and were crossed over English-bred cows. The purchase of Brahman, Santa Gertrudis and Droughtmaster bulls are rotated over these cows to keep the hybrid vigour in their progeny. About 700 head of cattle free range the eastern side of the unfenced section of Kybo and have four main watering points.
The late 1990s saw Kybo diversify again into fat-tail Damara and Meatmaster sheep mainly bred for the overseas market. The male progeny are sold as entires at five months when they weigh about 40 kg. They take little maintenance with no mulesing, tailing, crutching or shearing as they lose their fleeces. However, the first cross is sometimes shorn. The ewes produce twice a year and often have twins. Kybo is stocked with Merino and Damara sheep.
Although Kybo Station is still only two-thirds developed it has 17 paddocks that are watered from 10 bores and 11 tanks on pipelines. Water is sub-artesian and is pumped from about 100 to 150 m by submersible pumps into 5000 to 20,000 gallon tanks. It is good stock water.
Today Kybo is managed by Rod and Jill’s son Greg and his wife Toni and they have two young sons. Graeme left the station in the 1970s to go into Federal politics. Rod and Jill live on the station for most of the year but often go away doing contract work.