Alexander Berry (30 November 1781 – 17 September 1873) was a Scottish-born colonist and merchant who, in 1822, was given a large land grant of 10,000 acres (40 km<sup>2</sup>) with 100 convicts to establish an estate on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
This land grant was the Coolangatta Estate, which has now developed into the area known as the Shoalhaven Region that includes the modern-day towns of Berry (named in honour of Alexander and his brother David), Gerringong, Bomaderry and Nowra.
Berry also came into possession of another significant land grant on the north shore of Sydney, called Crows Nest.
He was one of the wealthiest and largest landholders in colonial New South Wales. Berry was notable for his antiquated views on society and for his establishment of a feudal-like system of tenancy on his estates.
Early life
Berry was born to parents James Berry and Isabel Tod at Hilltarvit Mains farmhouse, near Cupar in Fife, Scotland where his father was a tenant, during a blinding snowstorm on the evening of 30 November 1781 (St Andrew's Day, the national day of Scotland). He was baptised on 6 December. He was one of nine siblings.
Berry was educated at Cupar grammar school, where he was a contemporary of the artist Sir David Wilkie, and later studied medicine at St Andrews University from 1796 until 1798 and the University of Edinburgh from 1798 to 1801. His youthful intentions were to join the Royal Navy, but he was dissuaded from doing so by his father, and he became a surgeon's mate for the East India Company instead.
Voyage of the City of Edinburgh
His first commercial voyage for profit was to the Cape of Good Hope in 1806. On arrival, he heard that New South Wales needed provisions. He purchased a ship, , 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 in Tasmania 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
Business dealings with the New South Wales Rum Corps
Upon arrival in Sydney, Berry became acquainted with the officers of the Rum Corps, who were running a cartel on trade into the colony of New South Wales. He allotted his cargo of 22,000 gallons of spirits to them and dined with their leaders, Captain John Macarthur and Major George Johnston. He did not interfere when they conducted the Rum Rebellion, where the Rum Corps mutinied and detained the Governor of New South Wales, William Bligh, which occurred while Berry was in Sydney. In return, Berry was offered a £2,000 contract by the officers to transport settlers and convicts from Norfolk Island to Van Diemen's Land. 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 Valparaíso, and then travel to Lima. Shortt had been declared insolvent and died in 1828 before the case was settled.
Merchant and Colonist in New South Wales
They sailed to Sydney in 1819. Berry sailed as supercargo aboard , 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 Street in The Rocks area. Berry utilised his old Rum Corps connections to make Captain John Piper (who was the current chief of customs in Sydney) his agent.
Wollstonecraft obtained a land grant on Sydney's Lower North Shore in Berry's absence, which he named Crow's Nest. Significantly for Berry's business dealings, also aboard this ship was the new governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane with his staff and family. Arriving in Sydney with the new governor, Berry began the search for ideal land to claim his grant. During the journey he investigated the land in Shoalhaven area and decided to lay claim to it. He returned to Sydney and applied for a grant of 10,000 acres.
Berry named and established the Shoalhaven land grant as the Coolangatta Estate, while Wollstonecraft stayed in Sydney to look after business there. The name Coolangatta is derived from the local Dharawal word, Cullunghutti, which describes the dominant mountain in the area. Berry was able to conciliate with the resident Indigenous clans on his arrival, who became useful workers for him. A local Indigenous man, whom Berry assigned the name Broughton, was particularly important to Berry as a guide and interpreter during these early stages. Berry named Broughton Creek after him.
Around a dozen local Aboriginal men also became acquainted with John Batman, whose father had a contract felling cedar in the Shoalhaven. These men, such as Yunbai and Warroba, travelled with Batman to Sydney, Van Diemen's Land and the Port Phillip District, where they played integral roles in such things as roving parties against Aboriginal Tasmanians and in the Batman Treaty. Berry also became interested in collecting the remains of Aboriginal Tasmanians, and contracted Reverend Robert Knopwood of Hobart to send him at least two skulls.
Berry later secured two additional land grants in the Shoalhaven of each. Together with purchases, the size of the estate grew to in the early 1840s.
Berry used his convict labour to cut down the immense groves of cedar trees on his property, the timber products of which were transported and sold in Sydney for significant profit. In 1826 alone, 625,000 feet of timber was exported from Coolangatta. Convicts also drained the swamps to increase the size of his arable land which produced maize, tobacco, wheat, barley and potatoes. Cattle and pigs were also reared and shipped to the markets in Sydney. Berry and Wollstonecraft purchased vessels for this trade and had several ships built at Shoalhaven. The partners were also involved in exporting coal and seal-skins.
To ensure the compliance of the convicts and the Aboriginal population in the area, a small military detachment was sent to Coolangatta in 1825 where they were stationed for several years. The George Street stores had already shut in 1828, therefore Berry spent most of his time running the Coolangatta Estate. The enormous profits of the estate, which came mostly from the extraction and selling of cedarwood, were now solely controlled by Berry, who came to be described as "The Laird of Shoalhaven".
Lang published an account of how Berry's leasing system reduced his tenants to "a miserable state of serfdom". For example, Berry would lease half an acre of land at £5 per annum for 4 or 7 years under terms where a house must be built, but at the conclusion of the lease, the improved property and the building reverted to ownership of Berry. Lang called these actions of Berry as "worthy of only a heartless and determined oppressor" and labelled Berry a "feudal lord".
Berry was a strict social conservative, opposing all moves towards democracy or representative government. He held reformers in contempt, often labelling them "blackguards" or "ruffians". In return, as representative government in New South Wales became stronger despite Berry's efforts, he was generally regarded as antiquated and foolish by fellow parliamentarians.
William Charles Wentworth summarised Berry as someone who: <blockquote>"...had been so long accustomed to get both land and labour for nothing, he felt a natural repugnance in beginning to pay for it now...Under this system he had acquired a princely state of 20,000 or 30,000 acres of land and had enjoyed the fruits of the labour of hundreds of convicts..." Alexander Berry thereupon donated the land for a cemetery to the Anglican Parish of St Leonards. It was to be St Thomas' Cemetery, Crows Nest, the first burial ground established on Sydney's North Shore.
Crow's Nest House was completed in 1850 and Alexander Berry lived there until his death.
Berry was a member of the Philosophical Society and a councillor on the Australian Philosophical Society. He was interested in Australian Aborigines and their skulls, as well as geology, publishing a paper "On the Geology of Part of the Coast of New South Wales".
Berry had a substantial library of more than 2,000 books by the time he died.
In the early 1870s, just before his death, Berry wrote his memoirs which were published in 1912, entitled 'Reminiscences'. They chiefly describe his experiences onboard the City of Edinburgh, 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.
The probate value of Berry's estate was £400,000 sterling. He 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. His fortune passed to his brother, David Berry, and when he died in 1889 the estate was worth £1,252,975 sterling. David fulfilled Alexander's desire by making a bequest to the University of St. Andrews in Scotland of £100,000.<!-- wayback link has no details, a search of the current site shows refs that go to pages with no details --> David was probably one of Australia's earliest millionaires.
After the death of Alexander and David Berry, the running of the Shoalhaven and Crows Nest interests passed to their cousin, Sir John Hay. Hay gradually sold off the estates but the feudal-like tenancy system established by Alexander Berry, which was the largest of its type in Australia, continued in the Shoalhaven region until around 1912. Extravagant festivals were arranged to celebrate the Berrys and Hay during this period, in which the tenants would erect triumphal arches in their honour and present lavish gifts to their landlord.
The New South Wales South Coast town of Berry was named after the brothers after their death. Berry Island and Berrys Bay near the present day suburb of Wollstonecraft, all part of the original Crows Nest estate, were named after Alexander Berry. Berry Street in North Sydney and Alexander Street in Crows Nest are also 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.
The seaside resort town of Coolangatta, Queensland, is named after one of Berry's ships that was wrecked there in 1846.
References
External links
- Aboriginal labour on the Coolangatta Estate
- Australian Canal Society recognises Berry's Canal as the first Australian Canal
- Obituary of Francis Shortt, Berry's partner in the City of Edinburgh