Alexander Berry
Encyclopedia
Alexander Berry was a Scottish
-born surgeon
, merchant
and explorer who in 1822 was given a land grant
of 10,000 acres (40 km2) and 100 convict
s to establish the first European settlement on the south coast of New South Wales
, Australia
.
This settlement became known as the Coolangatta Estate
and later developed into what is now the town of Berry
, named in honour of Alexander and his brother David.
Mains farmhouse, near Cupar
in Fife
, Scotland
during a blinding snowstorm on the evening of 30 November 1781 (St Andrew's Day).
He was one of nine siblings.
He was educated at Cupar grammar school
, where he was a contemporary of the artist Sir David Wilkie
, and studied medicine at St Andrews University
and the University of Edinburgh
. His youthful intentions were to join the navy
, but he was dissuaded from doing so by his father, and he became a surgeon's mate
for the East India Company
.
Ship's surgeons were permitted to take a substantial amount of cargo, so his responsibilities were both medical and mercantile. He travelled first to China and then to India, aboard the Lord Hawkesbury. The second voyage was profitable for Berry.
He decided to quit the medical profession, as he hated the whippings he was obliged to attend, and he was attracted to the commercial possibilities of shipping.
His third voyage was to the Cape of Good Hope
in 1806. On arrival, he heard that New South Wales
needed provisions. He purchased a ship, City of Edinburgh, with medical student Francis Shortt, to take provisions to the colony. While travelling as supercargo
, he encountered storms which damaged his ship, so he stopped at Port Dalrymple, close to modern day Launceston
. He sold half his provisions there and the remainder in Hobart
. He then continued to Sydney
, where he arrived on 13 January 1808
with only spirits remaining to sell.
There was no cargo available to take from Sydney back to the Cape, so Berry accepted a government job to evacuate settlers from Norfolk Island
to Hobart
. The timber he was promised in payment was unavailable, so he decided to go to Fiji
to load a cargo of sandalwood. He also visited New Zealand
, to drop off a Māori who was returning from a visit to England
.
, New Zealand
, news came through of the massacre of the crew and passengers of the ship Boyd
by local Māori. The City of Edinburgh, with Berry, set sail for Whangaroa
where he rescued four survivors and the ship's papers by holding two chiefs hostage. He wrote in a letter to Governor Macquarie that he released the chiefs because "there was no opportunity of sending the chiefs to Port Jackson". He wrote in the Edinburgh Magazine that he had released them on condition that they lose their rank with their people, although he never expected that to happen.
, and then travel to Lima
.
He found a buyer for his cargo, and secured another cargo from Guayaquil
for Cadiz
and began the journey in 1811. After calling in at Rio de Janeiro
Berry was forced to abandon the City of Edinburgh during storms near the Azores
. He made his way to Lisbon
, Portugal
. It was on the trip from Lisbon
to Cádiz
that he met Edward Wollstonecraft
.
Wollstonecraft proceeded to London
as Berry's agent, and Berry remained for a time in Cádiz
before also proceeding to London
.
) and sailed to Sydney
, Australia
in 1819. Berry sailed as supercargo aboard the 'Admiral Cockburn', leaving England January 1819, and arriving in Sydney in July.
He was shortly followed by Wollstonecraft aboard the Canada. They set up as merchants on George St, in The Rocks area. Berry began to plan a trip to England to expand their commercial connections there. He returned to England with the Admiral Cockburn in February 1820.
Wollstonecraft obtained a land grant on Sydney's North Shore in Berry's absence.
Berry chartered the Royal George and returned to Sydney in November 1821 with an "extensive assortment of merchandise" for sale at their George St store,
as well as the new Governor, Thomas Brisbane, as a passenger on board.
Berry began to seek out and negotiate for a larger land grant.
In January and February 1822 Berry went with Hamilton Hume
and Lieutenant Robert Johnson on a journey of exploration down the coast of New South Wales aboard the Snapper. During the journey he investigated the land in Shoalhaven
area.
In June 1822, Berry and Woolstonecraft purchased a small cutter, the Blanche, and Berry returned to the Shoalhaven with Hume and assigned servants (convicts) to develop his land grant there.
While attempting to cross the bar into the river in a small boat, two people drowned, including Davison, who was the boy that Berry had rescued from the 'Boyd'.
Given the danger, Berry arranged to drag the Blanche across a sand bar that separated the Shoalhaven River from the Crookhaven River, with the Crookhaven entrance offering a safer passage. Hume then oversaw the digging of a canal through the bar using only hand tools, and constructing the first land navigable canal in Australia.
The partnership was granted 10000 acres (40.5 km²) there by Governor Brisbane
on condition of providing for 100 convicts (1 per 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of the grand). Berry set up the Coolangatta Estate
while Wollstonecraft
stayed in Sydney
to look after business there. Berry later secured two additional land grands of 4000 acres (16.2 km²) each. Together with purchases, the size of the estate grew to 32000 acres (129.5 km²) in the early 1840s.
Elizabeth Wollstonecraft, the sister of Edward Wollstonecraft, migrated to New South Wales and was married to Berry on 21 September 1827.
His partner, Edward Wollstonecraft, died in 1832.
, with the entire Coolangatta estate passing to Alexander Berry.
Berry then shut the George St stores, and spent most of his time running the Coolangatta Estate. Three of his brothers (David, John and William) and two sisters (Janet and Agnes) migrated to Coolangatta in 1836, allowing Alexander to spend more time in Sydney. David and John managed the estate jointly, and David alone following John's death in 1848.
Alexander's wife, Elizabeth, died in 1845 aged 63, at the Priory; a house owned by George Barney
, on what was part of the Crow's Nest estate, where they were living at the time.
Crow's Nest House was completed in 1850 and Alexander Berry lived there until his death.
Shortt had been declared insolvent at the Cape of Good Hope before coming to Sydney. His obituary stating that he had depended on friends for necessaries of life.
Shortt died in 1828 before the case was settled.
from 1829 to 1861. He was a conservative, opposing moves towards democracy, and local government.
He refused to pay rates on his Shoalhaven Estate after the incorporation of a Shoalhaven Municipality, arguing that his property should not form part of the local government area. He was successful in the Supreme Court and in Privy Council appeal brought by the Municipality.
, publishing a paper "On the Geology of Part of the Coast of New South Wales".
. He was buried in family vault in St. Thomas' cemetery with his wife and Edward Wollstonecraft. The cemetery is now known as St Thomas Rest Park, and the graves are still present.
The probate value of the estate he created was £1,252,975 sterling
; an enormous sum in that day. The estate passed to his brother David, 14 years his junior. He had no children. Charles Nicholson
wrote in a letter to The Times
in 1889 that Berry had prepared a will to bequeath the greater part of his estate to the University of St Andrews, but died a few hours before the time appointed to sign it.
David Berry in his will fulfilled Alexander's desire by making a bequeath to the University of St. Andrews in Scotland
of £100,000.
In 1889 St Andrews used the £100,000 legacy to establish the Berry Chair of English Literature, which still continues today.
Berry was possibly Australia's first millionaire
, and founder of the dairy industry in New South Wales.
The New South Wales South Coast town of Berry
was named after the brothers after their death.
Berry Island
, near the present day suburb of Wollstonecraft
, and originally part of the Wollstonecraft estate was named after Alexander Berry. Berry Street in North Sydney
and Alexander Street in Crows Nest
are both named after him.
Berry's Canal, the small canal that was constructed under direction of Alexander Berry at the Coolangatta Estate to link the Shoalhaven River
and the Crookhaven River now forms the main Shoalhaven River estuary, with the former entrance to the Shoalhaven River at Shoalhaven Heads usually closed to the ocean, except during floods.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
-born surgeon
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
and explorer who in 1822 was given a land grant
Land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate – land or its privileges – made by a government or other authority as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service...
of 10,000 acres (40 km2) and 100 convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
s to establish the first European settlement on the south coast of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
This settlement became known as the Coolangatta Estate
Coolangatta Estate
The Coolangatta Estate was established in 1822 by Alexander Berry. Born on St Andrew's Day 1783, the eldest child of a tenant farming family in Fife, he studied at the University of St Andrews and Edinburgh and qualified as a surgeon...
and later developed into what is now the town of Berry
Berry, New South Wales
Berry is a small Australian town in the Shoalhaven region of the NSW South Coast in the state of New South Wales, located south of the state capital, Sydney. The indigenous people of the area were the Wodi Wodi people. In the 1810s, George William Evans, Government Surveyor, reported on the Berry...
, named in honour of Alexander and his brother David.
Early life
Berry was born, to parents James and Isabel, at HilltarvitHill of Tarvit
The Hill of Tarvit is a 20th-century mansion house and gardens in Fife, Scotland. They were designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and are today owned by the National Trust for Scotland.- Description :...
Mains farmhouse, near Cupar
Cupar
Cupar is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town is situated between Dundee and the New Town of Glenrothes.According to a recent population estimate , Cupar had a population around 8,980 making the town the ninth largest settlement in Fife.-History:The town is believed to have...
in Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
during a blinding snowstorm on the evening of 30 November 1781 (St Andrew's Day).
He was one of nine siblings.
He was educated at Cupar grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
, where he was a contemporary of the artist Sir David Wilkie
David Wilkie (artist)
Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter.- Early life :Wilkie was the son of the parish minister of Cults in Fife. He developed a love for art at an early age. In 1799, after he had attended school at Pitlessie, Kettle and Cupar, his father reluctantly agreed to his becoming a painter...
, and studied medicine at St Andrews University
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
and the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
. His youthful intentions were to join the navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, but he was dissuaded from doing so by his father, and he became a surgeon's mate
Surgeon's mate
A surgeon's mate was a rank in the Royal Navy for a medically trained assistant to the ship's surgeon. The rank was renamed assistant surgeon in 1805, and was considered equivalent to the rank of master's mate/mate...
for the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
.
Ship's surgeons were permitted to take a substantial amount of cargo, so his responsibilities were both medical and mercantile. He travelled first to China and then to India, aboard the Lord Hawkesbury. The second voyage was profitable for Berry.
He decided to quit the medical profession, as he hated the whippings he was obliged to attend, and he was attracted to the commercial possibilities of shipping.
His third voyage was to the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
in 1806. On arrival, he heard that New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
needed provisions. He purchased a ship, City of Edinburgh, with medical student Francis Shortt, to take provisions to the colony. While travelling as supercargo
Supercargo
Supercargo is a term in maritime law that refers to a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship...
, he encountered storms which damaged his ship, so he stopped at Port Dalrymple, close to modern day Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
. He sold half his provisions there and the remainder in Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
. He then continued to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, where he arrived on 13 January 1808
with only spirits remaining to sell.
There was no cargo available to take from Sydney back to the Cape, so Berry accepted a government job to evacuate settlers from Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
to Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
. The timber he was promised in payment was unavailable, so he decided to go to Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
to load a cargo of sandalwood. He also visited New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, to drop off a Māori who was returning from a visit to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The Boyd massacre
In 1809, while the vessel was loading cargo at the Bay of IslandsBay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, news came through of the massacre of the crew and passengers of the ship Boyd
Boyd massacre
The Boyd Massacre took place in 1809 when Māori residents of Whangaroa Harbour in northern New Zealand killed and ate between 66 and 70 people as revenge for the whipping of a young Māori chief by the crew of the sailing ship Boyd...
by local Māori. The City of Edinburgh, with Berry, set sail for Whangaroa
Whangaroa
Whangaroa is a locality on the harbour of the same name in Northland, New Zealand.Whangaroa is 8km north-west from Kaeo and 45km north from Okaihau. The harbour is almost landlocked and is popular both as a fishing spot in its own right and as a base for deep-sea fishing.The harbour was the scene...
where he rescued four survivors and the ship's papers by holding two chiefs hostage. He wrote in a letter to Governor Macquarie that he released the chiefs because "there was no opportunity of sending the chiefs to Port Jackson". He wrote in the Edinburgh Magazine that he had released them on condition that they lose their rank with their people, although he never expected that to happen.
Shipwreck of the City of Edinburgh
Berry sailed eastwards from New Zealand with his cargo to the Cape of Good Hope, however a broken rudder forced him to make repairs in ValparaisoValparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
, and then travel to Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
.
He found a buyer for his cargo, and secured another cargo from Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
for Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
and began the journey in 1811. After calling in at Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
Berry was forced to abandon the City of Edinburgh during storms near the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
. He made his way to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. It was on the trip from Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
to Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
that he met Edward Wollstonecraft
Edward Wollstonecraft
Edward Wollstonecraft was a successful businessman in early colonial Australia. He was the nephew of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and cousin to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein....
.
Wollstonecraft proceeded to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as Berry's agent, and Berry remained for a time in Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
before also proceeding to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Settlement in New South Wales
Berry set up a partnership with Wollstonecraft (Berry and WollstonecraftBerry and Wollstonecraft
Berry and Wollstonecraft was an Australian business partnership established in 1819 between Alexander Berry and Edward Wollstonecraft.The main focus of the business was on a land grant of 10,000 acres , growing to 40,000 acres in the Shoalhaven River area, where native cedar was felled for export,...
) and sailed to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1819. Berry sailed as supercargo aboard the 'Admiral Cockburn', leaving England January 1819, and arriving in Sydney in July.
He was shortly followed by Wollstonecraft aboard the Canada. They set up as merchants on George St, in The Rocks area. Berry began to plan a trip to England to expand their commercial connections there. He returned to England with the Admiral Cockburn in February 1820.
Wollstonecraft obtained a land grant on Sydney's North Shore in Berry's absence.
Berry chartered the Royal George and returned to Sydney in November 1821 with an "extensive assortment of merchandise" for sale at their George St store,
as well as the new Governor, Thomas Brisbane, as a passenger on board.
Berry began to seek out and negotiate for a larger land grant.
In January and February 1822 Berry went with Hamilton Hume
Hamilton Hume
Hamilton Hume was the first Australian born explorer. Along with Hovell in 1824, Hume was part of an expedition that first took an overland route from Sydney to Port Phillip near the site of present day Melbourne...
and Lieutenant Robert Johnson on a journey of exploration down the coast of New South Wales aboard the Snapper. During the journey he investigated the land in Shoalhaven
Shoalhaven
The City of Shoalhaven is a Local Government Area in south-eastern New South Wales , Australia, two hours south of Sydney. It is more or less conterminous with an area referred to as The Shoalhaven. It is on the Pacific Ocean and the Princes Highway and is the terminus of the South Coast line...
area.
In June 1822, Berry and Woolstonecraft purchased a small cutter, the Blanche, and Berry returned to the Shoalhaven with Hume and assigned servants (convicts) to develop his land grant there.
While attempting to cross the bar into the river in a small boat, two people drowned, including Davison, who was the boy that Berry had rescued from the 'Boyd'.
Given the danger, Berry arranged to drag the Blanche across a sand bar that separated the Shoalhaven River from the Crookhaven River, with the Crookhaven entrance offering a safer passage. Hume then oversaw the digging of a canal through the bar using only hand tools, and constructing the first land navigable canal in Australia.
The partnership was granted 10000 acres (40.5 km²) there by Governor Brisbane
Thomas Brisbane
Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet GCH, GCB, FRS, FRSE was a British soldier, colonial Governor and astronomer.-Early life:...
on condition of providing for 100 convicts (1 per 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of the grand). Berry set up the Coolangatta Estate
Coolangatta Estate
The Coolangatta Estate was established in 1822 by Alexander Berry. Born on St Andrew's Day 1783, the eldest child of a tenant farming family in Fife, he studied at the University of St Andrews and Edinburgh and qualified as a surgeon...
while Wollstonecraft
Edward Wollstonecraft
Edward Wollstonecraft was a successful businessman in early colonial Australia. He was the nephew of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and cousin to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein....
stayed in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
to look after business there. Berry later secured two additional land grands of 4000 acres (16.2 km²) each. Together with purchases, the size of the estate grew to 32000 acres (129.5 km²) in the early 1840s.
Elizabeth Wollstonecraft, the sister of Edward Wollstonecraft, migrated to New South Wales and was married to Berry on 21 September 1827.
His partner, Edward Wollstonecraft, died in 1832.
, with the entire Coolangatta estate passing to Alexander Berry.
Berry then shut the George St stores, and spent most of his time running the Coolangatta Estate. Three of his brothers (David, John and William) and two sisters (Janet and Agnes) migrated to Coolangatta in 1836, allowing Alexander to spend more time in Sydney. David and John managed the estate jointly, and David alone following John's death in 1848.
Alexander's wife, Elizabeth, died in 1845 aged 63, at the Priory; a house owned by George Barney
George Barney
George Barney was a Royal Engineer officer and became Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of North Australia.-Early life:...
, on what was part of the Crow's Nest estate, where they were living at the time.
Crow's Nest House was completed in 1850 and Alexander Berry lived there until his death.
Dispute with Francis Shortt
Francis Shortt was Berry's partner in the City of Edinburgh at the Cape of Good Hope. He arrived in New South Wales in 1822 claiming that the partnership with Berry had not been dissolved, and that the partnership with Wollstonecraft was invalid. He claimed Berry had never made an account to him of the profits of the cargo of the City of Edinburgh.Shortt had been declared insolvent at the Cape of Good Hope before coming to Sydney. His obituary stating that he had depended on friends for necessaries of life.
Shortt died in 1828 before the case was settled.
Politics
Berry was an appointed member of the Legislative CouncilNew South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
from 1829 to 1861. He was a conservative, opposing moves towards democracy, and local government.
He refused to pay rates on his Shoalhaven Estate after the incorporation of a Shoalhaven Municipality, arguing that his property should not form part of the local government area. He was successful in the Supreme Court and in Privy Council appeal brought by the Municipality.
Other interests
Berry was a member of the Philosophical Society in 1821 and a councillor on the Australian Philosophical Society. He was interested in aborigines and geologyGeology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, publishing a paper "On the Geology of Part of the Coast of New South Wales".
Reminiscences
Berry's memoirs were published in 1912, entitled 'Reminiscences'. They chiefly describe his experiences at sea, both with the East India company and his private travels, with only a short section covering his life in New South Wales. In particular he describes in detail his relationships with the indigenous people of New Zealand and Fiji, and his experiences during the rescue at the scene of the Boyd massacre.Legacy
Alexander Berry died on 30 November 1873 at Crows Nest HouseCrows Nest, New South Wales
Crows Nest is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Crows Nest is located 5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council.-History:...
. He was buried in family vault in St. Thomas' cemetery with his wife and Edward Wollstonecraft. The cemetery is now known as St Thomas Rest Park, and the graves are still present.
The probate value of the estate he created was £1,252,975 sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
; an enormous sum in that day. The estate passed to his brother David, 14 years his junior. He had no children. Charles Nicholson
Charles Nicholson
Sir Charles Nicholson, 1st Baronet was a British-Australian politician, university founder, explorer, pastoralist, antiquarian and philanthropist...
wrote in a letter to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 1889 that Berry had prepared a will to bequeath the greater part of his estate to the University of St Andrews, but died a few hours before the time appointed to sign it.
David Berry in his will fulfilled Alexander's desire by making a bequeath to the University of St. Andrews in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
of £100,000.
In 1889 St Andrews used the £100,000 legacy to establish the Berry Chair of English Literature, which still continues today.
Berry was possibly Australia's first millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
, and founder of the dairy industry in New South Wales.
The New South Wales South Coast town of Berry
Berry, New South Wales
Berry is a small Australian town in the Shoalhaven region of the NSW South Coast in the state of New South Wales, located south of the state capital, Sydney. The indigenous people of the area were the Wodi Wodi people. In the 1810s, George William Evans, Government Surveyor, reported on the Berry...
was named after the brothers after their death.
Berry Island
Berry Island, New South Wales
Berry Island is an locality of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was originally one of Sydney's Harbour Islands, but it is now connected to the mainland by a constructed isthmus....
, near the present day suburb of Wollstonecraft
Wollstonecraft, New South Wales
Wollstonecraft is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Wollstonecraft is located 4 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council.-History:...
, and originally part of the Wollstonecraft estate was named after Alexander Berry. Berry Street in North Sydney
North Sydney, New South Wales
North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney...
and Alexander Street in Crows Nest
Crows Nest, New South Wales
Crows Nest is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Crows Nest is located 5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council.-History:...
are both named after him.
Berry's Canal, the small canal that was constructed under direction of Alexander Berry at the Coolangatta Estate to link the Shoalhaven River
Shoalhaven River
The Shoalhaven River is a river rising from the Southern Tablelands and flowing into the ocean near Nowra on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia.- History :...
and the Crookhaven River now forms the main Shoalhaven River estuary, with the former entrance to the Shoalhaven River at Shoalhaven Heads usually closed to the ocean, except during floods.