Roland Kingwill, Roly as he was known, was born in Graaff Reinet in the semi desert part of South Africa called the Karroo, on the 15th November 1905.
He started his schooling with a governess on the family sheep farm of ‘Gordonville’. Thereafter he went to high school at Grey High Institute in the coastal town and port of Port Elizabeth (now called Queberga). He did well with rugby, athletics and gymnastics and passed his final school year with a good record.
He did one year of Bachelor of Arts at the University of Cape Town. Roly then went into full-time farming, taking out a full bond to purchase ‘Westaway’ and borrowing further Capital to buy sheep and equipment.
He married Moira Massey and they had four children, Janet, Claire, David and Robert. Through friends they met the ideas of “If you want to build a new world, the best place to start is with yourself”, and “If man listen, God speaks; if men change, nations change.”
Roly decided to make an experiment. He said, “God, if You can speak, speak to me now!” The result, he said, startled him. “You must get into this – I have work for you.” One morning his thought was to begin with himself and his farm. “Reduce your stock by one third; include a system of rotational grazing.” A huge step in faith but he sold one-third of his sheep. The years that followed were not easy financially. However, gradually the veld began to recover, the sheep started to produce more wool per head and the lambing percentage improved. Later the family took over the family farm of ‘Gordonville’ where Roly continued the practices he had applied at Westaway. Later this method of sheep farming which Roly pioneered, became a requirement by national government. He was presented with an Award of Honour by Grootfontein Agricultural College in recognition of the valuable groundbreaking work he had done in the field of agriculture.
Roly felt led to improve labour relations on the farm and began by apologising to his staff for his ill temper. Instead of the sniggers he had expected, he received instant co-operation and understanding.
Not only a farmer, Roly was a poet, a playwright and one who constantly wrote into the newspapers with thoughts and convictions about the country.
Roly died on the 7th September 1997 at the age of 91 years of age. At his funeral a poem from an old friend, Bill Page, was read. The first two verses are as follows:
“A prophet and a pioneer,
Who saw his country’s need
Responded not in words alone
But matched them with his deeds.
He sacrificed the instant gain
For plan to save the soil,
And lived to see the earth renewed
By all his years of toil.”
Anchors in the Karroo
