ranging from , but others were extensive. From 1812, Macquarie began to allot land north of Camden to potential large scale landowners, men of substance in the colony. Food shortages and the imminence of population growth as the Anglo-American War of Independence drew to a close prompted this move to favourable ground in the south-west of the Sydney Plain. The first grants in the area were made in 1815: Kirkham to John Oxley (Surveyor-General) who was also granted the Elderslie farm; Harrington to William Campbell (sea captain and Pacific trader); and Orielton to Simeon Lord (ex-naval officer and entrepreneur). In 1816 there was Netherbyres to Molle (regimental colonel) and Nonnorah (later Maryland) to Dickson (steam miller). About the same time, grants of a similar kind were made: Macquarie's Gift to Cowper (clergyman); Denbigh to Hook (merchant); Curtis to Blaxcell (merchant); and Raby to Riley (merchant). Macquarie later regretted his generosity because of the great numbers of cattle stolen from the government herds after the settlers had moved into the area. At first, these, and similar properties in the neighbourhood were used for sheep and cattle; the few assigned resident convict stockmen lived in primitive huts. By the 1820s some owners looking for "rural retreats" and needing to cultivate the land, established residences and began to build permanent homes with associated farm buildings. These included Oxley and Campbell. The practice began of such landowners running sheep beyond the mountains (on Crown land), using their Cowpasture estates for breeding and agistment and, increasingly, developing agriculture, which began to include milling, threshing, and viticulture as allied activities. Founder of Harrington Park, William Douglas Campbell Captain William Douglas Campbell was a member of the British merchant navy who worked initially in the India trade. He was the most knowledgeable navigator of the Pacific region. He first visited the colony of New South Wales in 1797 on the brig Deptford that brought merchandise from Madras. Two years later he returned as captain of the Rebecca and came to Sydney again in 1801 as master of the brig Harrington. On the way back to Madras in 1803 he visited Chile and Peru for trade purposes and was so successful that he purchased a half-share in the Harrington and returned there the following year. On this occasion, he raided the coast on the "somewhat flimsy excuse" that he believed England and Spain to be at war. When