sheep and cattle farms, with wheat and other grain crops being grown as well until the 1850s. The houses were often built on surrounding ridges or hills, providing sweeping views of the countryside and ensuring that any passing traveller could appreciate the owner's status by viewing their impressive country mansions from the road. This land use pattern of large farm estates and small towns, established in the nineteenth century, remained largely the pattern of development of the area up until the late 1990s. Aerial photographs of the area in 1947 show a rural landscape with some limited urban development on either side of (then) Camden Valley Way. Raby Raby, consisting of of land, was granted to Alexander Riley in 1816, whose principal place of residence was at Burwood. Riley came to NSW in 1804 and, after serving as storekeeper and magistrate in Tasmania and Secretary to the colony in Sydney, he resigned. In addition to farming (particularly sheep farming), he became a prosperous trader, his Sydney partnership with Richard Jones aided by links with Alexander's brother Edward Riley in Calcutta and W. S. Davidson in Canton. In 1816 Edward Riley joined Alexander in NSW and the following year Alexander returned to England, where he became an agent for colonial trade. Through his knowledge as a British agent for the colonial wool trade, Riley recognised the importance of the quality of wool and decided to invest in 200 Saxon merinos. His nephew, also named Edward, helped select the stock in Germany and accompanied them to the Colony in the George Osborne in 1825. Although the farm buildings at Raby had been neglected by his brother during the intervening period and there was a period of severe drought, Edward Riley jnr was able to foster the herd. In 1827 and for the following three years Raby's Saxons eclipsed all others at the Australian Agricultural Society's Annual Shows. In December 1817 Raby was leased to George Cribb of Sydney, butcher. There are two renditions of Raby from the 1820s - Joseph Lycett produced an idealised view of Raby for his "Views in Australia" (1824) and a pencil drawing by W. Mason. Both views show a house on the property - a single storey farmhouse set in a cleared paddock surrounded by eucalypt forest. It is thought that this was built in . Lycett's romanticised view of Raby mentions the farm upon the Cowpasture