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How did the family shape/change Christchurch?  The Deans family shaped Christchurch a lot. They made it a popular place for farming and contributed to getting other English farmers to settle there. They also helped give Christchurch it's sense of identity as 'the garden city'. They also named the area Riccarton after their parish in Scotland and the Avon River after the stream on their Grandfathers farm. The Deans family changed Christchurch in good ways but also in bad ways. For example they introduced new animals which have now become pests. The Riccarton House has bee preserved for all these years and shows what Christchurch was like before the Deans family arrived. 

What was Christchurch like before they arrived? Before the Deans arrived the only European settlers who had been there had left. Most of the population were Maori's. Riccarton was a big bush and the Deans tried to preserve all this, after other European settlers came most of the bush was cut down and used for timber. The bush sorrounding Riccarton Bush is the only bush left there showing what it was like before all the Europeans started settling there.

Why did they come to New Zealand?

The Deans family came to Christchurch to be farmers. Back in England they were laywers but they had wanted to go to New Zealand under the New Zealand Company's colonising scheme for a long time. After their father let them  work at the Mcllraith's he decided they could go to New Zealand. When they arrived in Wellington, New Zealand they were dissappointed with the land so they applied for permission to farm at Puturingamotu, now known as Riccarton.

 What was it like building Riccarton Cottage  The Deans family went through a lot building Riccarton Cottage. William and John Deans together with Samuel Manson built Riccarton Cottage. The two Deans brothers lived in Riccarton Cottage until their tragic deaths. William Deans drowned in a shipwreck. John Deans later went back to Scotland to marry Jane Deans then they lived together in Riccarton Cottage until John died of tuberculosis a year later. Jane Deans was then left with their baby son to live in the cottage until Riccarton House was complete. John and Jane Deans had already payed for the first stages of the house to be built and when John died Jane made sure that work carried on. After te east wing was completed a second section was built several years later as John Deans II and his wife and children needed more room. 

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