Rawdon Hume "Ron" Middleton, VC (22 July 1916 – 29 November 1942) was a bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force and a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Early life Middleton was born on 22 July 1916 in Waverley, Sydney at Nurse Nettleton's Private Hospital. His younger brother, Osman (a Middleton family name), was born in 1918. His parents had married in 1914. His mother was Faith Lillian (born Millar) and his father Francis Rawdon Middleton, known as Frank, who had been raised at Burrowa. Rawdon Middleton's maternal grandmother, Jessie Huon Middleton, née Hume, was the niece of the colonial explorer, Hamilton Hume. Rawdon Middleton spent the main part of his early years in the Central Western districts of New South Wales where his father was employed managing farming properties. His father, known as Frank, was working at Muswellbrook in 1914. At some time after his marriage Frank was managing "Warrah" station on the Liverpool Plains of NSW, where in 1920 he was on the Warrah Cricket Association committee. Ron Middleton was a young child on 'Warrah', a very large pastoral property owned by the Australian Agricultural Company and had its own school. FR Middleton left 'Warrah' when Ron was aged 7&1/2 years. The family then moved to 'Kelvin Grove', a smaller farming property near Wallerawang in the Lithgow area. In 1927 Frank Middleton took up the position of station manager on 'Alloway' at Gilgandra for its new owner Mr Geoffrey Mosse of Darling Point, Sydney. Ron lived on 'Alloway' from the age of 9. He and his brother initially attended the one-teacher Buramilong school on a nearby property and then attended Gilgandra school for his Intermediate Certificate 1930–1932. The optional Leaving Certificate was not provided at the Gilgandra school at that time, so when Ron reached that stage of his schooling he boarded in 1933–34 in Dubbo, 40 miles away, to complete his final two years of high school. At Dubbo High School a memorial trust in his name has been operating for many years. He was an athletic young man who competed regularly as a teenager in Gilgandra tennis competitions, played for the Gilgandra district's Berida cricket team and excelled in cricket and rugby football at school. He represented Dubbo High for tennis in the Astley