History

William Deans left Ayrshire, Scotland in 1839 aged 22 to find land to farm in New Zealand. He was one of the first colonists to arrive at Wairarapa in January of 1840. He explored the length and breadth of the country and found the fertile Canterbury Plains. In 1843, with his brother John, they took up a lease of 33,000 acres with the local Maori Ngai Tahu tribe.

When the Church of England Pilgrim Settlement arrived in 1850, buying their leasehold land in order to establish the city of Christchurch, the Deans’ brothers went west to take up the Homebush lease in the foothills of the Canterbury Plains. So began the dramatic story of the Deans’ family, tragic, romantic and filled with visionary hope.

You can read the full story in the book “Homebush” which is illustrated with old black and white and coloured photographs.