David Berry (1795–1889)
David Berry (1795–1889) came from a Cupar farming family, and became Australia’s first millionaire. In 1836, he (and two other brothers and two sisters) emigrated to join their older brother Alexander in New South Wales, Australia. David took on the management of Alexander’s tobacco- and timber-producing estate, which had been established by convict-labour on land inhabited by Indigenous people; the estate was within the area now covered by a Native Title claim by the South Coast People. David was the longest-lived of the Berry siblings, and inherited estates from at least two of his brothers; Alexander left him the Shoalhaven estate, then consisting of about 60,000 acres and valued at £400,000. By the time David died in 1889, his own estate was valued at an incredible £1,250,000.
During the final decade of David’s life, the University of St Andrews had approached him, through its contacts in Australia, about the possibility of making a donation or leaving a bequest to the University, in recognition of his elder brother’s apparent wish to acknowledge his alma mater. In his will, David Berry made bequests of £100,000 for the University of St Andrews, £100,000 for a hospital in the Shoalhaven area, and £30,000 for the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales. The Berry Bequest was by far the largest single donation the University had ever received (at that point) – although it took two decades before the funds were released and remitted to St Andrews by Berry’s trustees, James Norton and John Hay.
Sources:
Australian Dictionary of Biography, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/berry-david-2983