A Stockman's Gift A Legacy For Waikato

Description

Dan Bryant was a man of faith. He stipulated that his biographer especially note a ‘special clause’ in the Bryant House Trust's Deed of Gift - “...the Donor is desirous of declaring that he disclaims all credit for the foundation of this Trust the institution of which he attributes to the over-ruling guidance of Almighty God”.

 

Table of contents

 

1921

Successful farmer and livestock dealer, Dan Bryant announces his intention to give half his wealth and most of his energy to the establishment and maintenance of a children's convalescent home in Raglan.

1924

The Bryant Convalescent Home for Children opens, under the governance of the Bryant House Trust Board, effectively pioneering children's health camps in New Zealand.

1928

Bryant starts providing hospitality to "tired mothers" via homestays in Raglan and at Mount Maunganui.

1948

Dan's wife Mary Bryant dies.  Dan establishes Mary Bryant Trust and opens a residential nursery in Thackeray Street for babies and toddlers whose mothers need a break.

1950s

Bryant House Hospitality Scheme allows women to have a break at Bryant Convalescent Home whilst the children weren't in residence.

1955

Bryant House Trust Board purchases a house in Cliff Street, Raglan to run as a Women's Rest Home.

1960

The DV Bryant Trust is established.

1962

Dan Bryant dies.  Under the guidance of astute Chairman Don Arcus (Dan Bryant's son in law) and its highly efficient and long-serving Executive Secretary Ashley Taylor, the DV Bryant Trust prospers through the judicious sale of the remaining 200+ acres of the Bryant family farm at Te Rapa adjacent to the Waikato River and Hamilton Golf Club.  Over nearly three decades from the early 1960s land was subdivided into residential and industrial blocks.  Street names in the Pukete/Te Rapa area bear witness to the Bryant legacy.

1963

DV Bryant Trust purchases land on the corner of Alexandra and Collingwood Streets which housed Findlay's Bakery, the first of a number of commercial property ventures undertaken by the Trust over subsequent years.  Commercial property and investments now generate a substantial part of the income for the Trust's activities.

1964

DV Bryant Trust opens new, purpose-built Rest Home for Women on the corner of Cliff and James Streets, Raglan.

1965

DV Bryant Trust starts regularly distributing some of its surplus income to a variety of welfare agencies and community organisations.  Also monies from the land sales are put towards the construction of Bryant Hall (a student hall of residence at the University of Waikato) and Bryant Village, a retirement community in St Andrews Hamilton, no longer in operation.

1966

Bryant Convalescent Home for children closes, after providing rest and recreation to more than 10,000 men, women and children.  Bryant House Trust Board is dis-established.

1970

Bryant Memorial Scholarships introduced to pay school fees for secondary students.

1974

Residential nursery closes.  Mary Bryant Trust is dis-established.

1987

DV Bryant Trust builds Vero House, where its offices and board room are now located.

1990s

DV Bryant helps fund the University of Waikato's Academy of Performing Arts Centre and the Bryant Education Centre at Waikato Hospital.

2002

DV Bryant Trust helps develop the 'Te Ara Hou' Social Service Village and Abbeyfield House.

2003

Rest Home for Women is re-named as the Bryant Retreat.  The Trust gifts Bryant Hall to the University of Waikato and establishes the Bryant Scholarships Funds.

2006

DV Bryant helps develop the DV Bryant Enliven Centre, (built on part of the former Bryant Village site in St Andrews).