on April 7, 1840, at Otahoa, near the outlet of Lake Forsyth, and brought two assistants. Mr. Heriot’s object was to grow wheat for the Sydney firm, and the land he selected for the purpose was situated at Potoringamutu (a Maori name meaning the place of an echo), afterwards named Riccarton by the Deans brothers. The journey from Otahoa was accomplished in a bullock waggon, along the beach to Taumutu, and thence through the present site of Southbridge. Soon afterwards Messrs. Abercrombie and Co. failed, and Mr. Heriot returned to Sydney, but one of his assistants, Mr. Malcolm McKinnon, remained behind and attempted to continue the settlement single-handed. The task proved too heavy for him, and in March, 1841, he gave it up and removed ta Akaroa.
It was in 1843 that the Deans brothers took up the land at Riccarton, which has ever since remained in the occupation of their family. William, the elder brother, came to Wellington in the “Aurora” in 1840, and was followed by John, who landed in Nelson from the “Thomas Harrison,” October 25, 1842. Each of the brothers had purchased “scrip” from the New Zealand Company in London, to be exchanged for grants of land in the colony. Like many other colonists, the Deans were dissatisfied with the choice of land offered them. Most of the country round Wellington was then covered with heavy bush, and there was also the danger arising from the rival land claims made by different tribes of Maoris. Mr. William Deans had visited the Port Cooper Plains with Captain Danniell in 1841, as mentioned in an earlier chapter, and had been impressed by the great possibilities for successful settlement which so large a tract of open country afforded. He therefore persuaded his brother to join with him in forming a settlement at Potoringamutu. The Port Cooper Plains were not at that time open for land selection, and the brothers had to take their chance of being able, later on, to secure
