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William b: 1817 and John Deans b: 1820 were among
the earliest European settlers of Canterbury. The brothers farmed
at Riccarton Bush They had trained as lawyers and became
interested in the New Zealand Company’s colonising scheme, and left
for New Zealand along with the Gebbie and Manson families also from
Scotland.
Their land was given to them on condition they did not
settle near Māori plantings. From Lyttelton they sailed to the
Estuary and took a whaleboat up the Avon River to a place where they unloaded bricks for a chimney. They changed to a canoe which could
cope with the shallow water. Their house built in 1843 was the
first on the Canterbury Plains. Once the farm was established,
the Manson and Gebbie families left to establish their own farms at
the head of Lyttelton Harbour.  | 
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