Alexander Berry: holes in the story of a NSW pioneer conceal a dark past of Indigenous exploitation

Statues at a rest area on the Princes Highway honour Alexander Berry and his brother David, early pioneers of the area now known as the Shoalhaven. Photograph: Brett Matthews

This year marks the bicentenary of European invasion for the Yuin people of the New South Wales south coast. In 1822, the Scottish surgeon and trader Alexander Berry was granted 10,000 acres of Yuin land around Cullunghutti, or what the Europeans came to call Coolangatta mountain. Between the foothills of the mountain and the Shoalhaven River is some of the most fertile and lush farmland in the country.

Berry grew very wealthy from his occupation. He sat in NSW parliament for 14 years and is considered a founding father of the area; they named the town after him in 1888. Today, the pretty and historic township of Berry, two hours south of Sydney, is a popular tourist spot, especially among the short-stay and weekender crowd.