It wasn’t love at first sight for either John or Jane Deans…unbelievable concerning the history they made together. Jane was born at Auchenflower Farm, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 21st April 1823. She was eldest child of farmer/gentleman James McIlraith and his first wife Agnes. When her mother died, Jane became the mother hen of her …
On 1 November 1989, Riccarton Borough joined Greater Christchurch and came under the care of the C.C.C. The Deans’ farm – named Riccarton after their parish back in Scotland – was clearly Christchurch’s first European settlement on the plains. William Deans had first spotted his future home from the shoulders of his two companions (Jimmy …
In 1897, Jane Deans made the hard choice of having the “accepted” city’s oldest building demolished due to it being a hazard. When the Deans brothers, William and John, and the Manson and Gebbie families arrived on the Port Cooper (Canterbury) Plains in 1843, Samuel Manson quickly erected a barn-like building where they could all …
On the 25th December 1848, Christchurch had its first Christmas Day. On the newly named Canterbury Plains, 9 people (maybe the only people on the plains that day) crowded into the Deans Cottage to make the most of the day. Some of those who attended were Captain Joseph Thomas (Chief surveyor for the Canterbury Association …
I’m sure as the schooner ‘Ballet’ sailed down the east coast of the Middle (South) Island from Port Nicholson (Wellington), William Deans leaned against the deck railing and watched the passing coastline with great interest. He was aboard Captain Edward Daniell’s schooner as an approved stow-away and he held great hopes for what he might …
On 10th April 1840, a small party of farmers and their families began to make their way across Waitaha (Canterbury Plains) from Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere). With two teams of bullocks, drays full of supplies and farm equipment, this event is believed to be the first time bullocks walked the land, and that drays and …
