After first settling in Victoria pursuing pastoral interests, Raff arrived in Brisbane, aboard the Souvenir schooner on 9 April 1851.

A third adjacent block was subsequently bought by Raff in 1864 from the original 1860 purchaser, John Frederick McDougall.

[2] Raff married Elizabeth Millar Patterson, the elder daughter of a prominent Scottish medical family, in Sydney on 5 June 1862.

At some point prior to the birth of his first child, Jessie Watson, on 18 April 1863, the now heritage-listed house Grangehill was built on the Gregory Terrace site and occupied by Raff's family.

[1] Raff continued his pastoral interests in Queensland, on his property, Logie Plains on the Darling Downs.