He settled in Wellington, owning the Miramar Peninsula and parts of Rongotai and Kilbirnie, which he named after the town in Scotland.

[6] He was awarded a Royal Humane Society medal for jumping overboard to rescue sailors on two occasions in 1834, while he was a College Midshipman on HMS Dublin.

[6] He bought 700 cattle and, with the help of an overseer and seven workers, drove the herd overland on a five-month journey between Sydney and Adelaide, arriving there in April 1839.

[4] The centre of the peninsula contained a shallow lake of about 200 acres, known to Māori as Para or Te Roto Kura, and to Europeans as Burnham Water, which was surrounded by swamps.

[15] Crawford sowed various types of grasses to fix the sand in parts of the peninsula and improve the former swampy areas.

[18] In 1859, the Superintendent of Wellington proposed to tax landowners in Te Aro to pay for a sewerage and drainage scheme there.

[19] Crawford objected to this statement, and at a public meeting said that the editor of the Wellington Spectator was a woman who was "an ugly old hag".

[20] His property at Watts (Miramar) Peninsula was not within the Wellington town limits, but Crawford stated that a road would be a general improvement that would be needed sooner or later, and he believed taxation was the best way forward.

[24] The new property owners raised funds for a direct road from Newtown to Kilbirnie, which was built in 1878 and named after Crawford.

Roads had already been laid out and "partially formed", with allowance for future tram lines, and land was set aside for churches, schools and parks.

[2][37] From 1861 to 1864 he explored the Whanganui and Rangitīkei rivers, the central plateau and northern Wairarapa, looking for mining potential and routes for road and rail.

[2] In 1864 Crawford established and presided over the Resident Magistrate and Warden's Court at Havelock in Pelorus Sound for some months.

In 1867, Crawford became a founding member of the Wellington Benevolent Society, an organisation formed to relieve poverty in the city.

[41][42] In June 1878, Crawford resigned as Sheriff and was replaced as Resident Magistrate because he was over the age of compulsory retirement.