In March 1802 Governor Philip Gidley King granted Rouse 40 hectares (100 acres) and he established on a farm at North Richmond on the Hawkesbury River.
The actual possession of the land had taken place a few years previously, as the Sydney Gazette had first mentioned Rouse Hill on 27 November 1813, and the homestead was begun soon afterwards.
[1][3][4][5] In 1822 Rouse sent his sons in search of good pasturage in the area north-west of the Blue Mountains; and in 1825 they took up land for him 140 kilometres (90 mi) north of Bathurst on the Cudgegong River near Gulgong.
Rouse also acquired Ewenmar on the Castlereagh River, Gillendoon near Warren, Cobborah near Wellington and other land at Bathurst as well as the properties at Penrith and Richmond.
[2] Rouse was a devoted family man, a loyal member of the Church of England, a hard-working and honest public servant and a very efficient grazier.