[1] Earlier Europeans had described "large ponds covered with ducks and the black swan, the margins of which were fringed with shrubs of the most delightful tints".

They admired the absence of underbush - probably achieved through Aboriginal burning off - and felt comfortable with a landscape that reminded them of an English gentleman's park.

Lord Camden rewarded him with 4,047 hectares (10,000 acres) and Macarthur chose the highly coveted Cowpastures for his grant, though Governor King tried to prevent him from taking it.

Aerial photographs of the area in 1947 show a rural landscape with some limited urban development on either side of (then) Camden Valley Way.

[3][1] Raby, consisting of 1,214 hectares (3,000 acres) of land, was granted to Alexander Riley in 1816, whose principal place of residence was at Burwood.

Both views show a house on the property - a single storey farmhouse set in a cleared paddock surrounded by eucalypt forest.

Lycett's romanticised view of Raby mentions the farm upon the Cowpasture Road leading to the Nepean, at the distance of 51 kilometres (32 mi) from Sydney.

Helen Proudfoot quotes the following description:[4][1] "The three thousand acre property forms a striking contrast between forests and the vast openings of land which have been cleared to accommodate livestock.

The Estate on its southern boundary is dominated by a piece of water that, in a connecting chain of small ponds, forms the head of the South Creek, one of the principal and most important branches of the Hawkesbury River.

The Pasture at Raby is most fertile and principally devoted to the grazing of fine-woolled sheep: from fifteen hundred to two thousand of which are herded every night on a fresh site.

In 1834 Baron Von Hugel, while overlooking the success of the sheep-farming, referred to Raby in his New Holland Journal as "The large property of a young man named W. E. Riley Esq., whose father introduced Tibetan goats here which, as I hear, thrive well but have not been profitable[7] That same year, Dr Lhotsky referred to Raby as one of the most famous farms in the colony.

His wife Elizabeth (who he had married at St. George's church, Southwark, London, in 1814) was convicted at the Lancaster Assizes of possessing three forged bank notes.

[1] In March 1820 Moore petitioned Governor Macquarie for a ticket-of-leave, given for good behaviour and to encourage convicts to earn their own living by working for an employer.

In 1830 a second daughter, Elizabeth was born and Edward bought a farm, Drummondville, about 11 kilometres (7 mi) out of Liverpool, growing hay for the teamsters coming to and from Sydney.

She wrote letters to the much older Ellen Foreman (née Moore), who lived with her parents at Raby, Catherine Field and later established Ellensville, Mount Hunter.

These letters survive and have been published as a book by Pacita Alexander, showing the ties between the colonial properties of the Cumberland Plain and hints of the influence of those places on the shared joys of gardening.

A note on the plan mentions that "The fences on this property are evidently very old indeed some portions especially on the north-western boundary have been renewed but the stumps of the old posts are visible".

Pockets of remnant / regenerating Cumberland Plain Woodland (an endangered ecological community) are elsewhere on the farm, for instance along the southern boundary.

Some mature forest red gums (Eucalyptus tereticornis) line Raby's (western) side of Camden Valley Way.

Nearer the house mature honey locusts (Gleditsia triacanthos) and nettle trees (Celtis australis) may reflect earlier lines of shelter belts from the farm or specimen planting.

A brick cottage, extended at its rear (west) as a carport, dates to the original 1820s homestead complex and later served as the house's kitchen.

(one remains south-west of the house) and Chinese trumpet creeper (Campsis grandiflora), as well as Cape plumbago (P.capensis), kaffir lilies (Clivia sp.)

[18][1] North-west of the house a trumpet creeper (Pandorea ricasoliana) grows near a gate leading to home paddocks and outbuildings.

[1] West of the house a belt of mature plantings comprise mainly Monterey pines (Pinus radiata), some Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis), Brazilian pepper trees (Schinus molle var areira) and African boxthorn, possibly used as hedging in the past (Lycium ferocissimum).

[1] As at 31 March 2004, Raby is a rare surviving element of an early colonial estate and is significant at the state level for its associations with the pioneering of the Australian fine merino wool industry.

Raby has associations with the Riley and Moore families and throughout its history was the subject of illustration and literature produced by prominent people, notably Joseph Lycett & W. Mason (c. 1820), Baron Von Hugel and Dr John Lhotsky (c. 1834) and by William Hardy Wilson (c. 1920).

Raby is significant at State level for its associations with the pioneering of the Australian fine merino wool industry and for its relationship as part of an important group of extant early colonial farming estates along the former Cowpastures Road.

Raby was the subject of illustration and literature produced by Joseph Lycett & W. Mason c. 1820, Baron Von Hugel and Dr John Lhostsky c. 1834 and by Hardy Wilson c. 1920.

The main farm group is visually prominent from the early roads and the original land grant boundary on the southern side is still extant.

Raby has research significance at the State level in understanding our cultural history in regards to colonial agricultural practices and landscape design (including homesteads and farm structures).