Bennett, George (1804 - 1893)

Summary

George Bennett was considered one of Australia's greatest physician-naturalists. As a young man made a number of sea voyages, particularly through the Pacific Ocean from 1828 to 1835, with visits to Australia in 1829 and 1831. The results of these travels included a considerable collection of natural history specimens (many of which were sent to leading scientists in Britain) and the book Wanderings in New South Wales … being the journal of a naturalist (2 volumes, 1834). On moving permanently to New South Wales in 1836 Bennett established a private medical practice and immersed himself in the scientific life of the colony. He was Secretary of the Committee of Superintendence and Curator of the Australian Museum and Botanical Garden, and compiled the first catalog of the Museum's holdings. He was highly influential in the development and progress of the Museum for many years. Bennett was the inaugural President of the Acclimatisation Society of New South Wales, and served two terms as President of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.

Details

Chronology

1828

Education - MRCS, Middlesex Hospital and Hunterian School of Medicine

1834

Education - FRCS, Middlesex Hospital and Hunterian School of Medicine

1836- -

Career position - In private medical practice, Sydney

1836

Life event - Migrated to Australia

1836 - 1841

Career position - Secretary, Committee of Superintendence of the Australian Museum and Botanical Garden, New South Wales

1859

Education - MD, University of Glasgow

1861

Career position - Inaugural President, Acclimatisation Society of New South Wales

1882 - 1883

Career position - President, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales

1886

Career position - President, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales

1888 -

Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1888 - 1889

Career position - Foundation Secretary, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1890

Award - Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• George Bennett - Records, 1877 - 1879, UNCAT MSS 362; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• George Bennett - Records, 1833 - 1840, Uncatalogued MSS set 361 and microfilm FM 3/238; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• George Bennett - Records, 1844 - 1888, Uncatalogued MSS set 301 and microfilm FM 4/227-8; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Books

• Bennett, George, Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore and China: being the journal of a naturalist in those countries, during 1832, 1833, and 1834, 2 vols (London: Richard Bentley, 1834). Details
• Bennett, George, A catalogue of specimens of natural history and miscellaneous curiosities deposited in the Australian Museum (Sydney: James Tegg, printer, 1837), 71 pp. Details
• Bennett, George, Gatherings of a naturalist in Australasia: being observations principally on the animal and vegetable productions of New South Wales, New Zealand, and some of the austral islands (London: John Van Voorst, 1860), 456 pp. Details
• Bennett, George, Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia 1860 (Milson Point: Currawong Press, 1982), 456 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Chisholm, A. H., 'Bennett, George (1804-1893), medical practitioner and naturalist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 1: 1788 - 1850 A-H, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1966), pp. 85-86. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010084b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Bennett, G., 'A trip to Queensland in search of fossils', Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 54 (1872), 314-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937208696586. Details
• Coppleston, V., 'The Life and Times of Dr. George Bennett.', Bull. Post-Grad. Comm. Med. Univ. of Syd. (1955), 207-264. Details
• Whitley, Gilbert P., 'Some Early Naturalists and Collectors in Australia', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, xix (1933), 291-304. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q517936. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/47543689. Details
• 'Bennett, George (1804-1893)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-631339. Details

See also

• Aitken, Richard and Looker, Michael eds, The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2002), 700 pp. Details
• Gruber, Jacob W., 'Does the Platypus Lay Eggs? The History of an Event in Science', Archives of Natural History, 18 (1) (1991), 51-123. Details
• Maiden, J. H., 'Records of Australian botanists:- (a) general; (b) New South Wales', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 42 (1908), 60-132. Details
• Newland, Elizabeth, 'Dr George Bennett and Sir Richard Owen: a Case Study of the Colonisation of Early Australian Science' in International Science and National Scientific Identity: Australia between Britain and America, R. W. Home and Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, eds (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press, 1991). Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
• The University of Sydney School of Medicine online museum, Dramatis personae - Examiners: the Examiners other than those who were Fellows of Senate, University of Sydney School of Medicine, Sydney, 2024. https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine/museum/mwmuseum/index.php/Dramatis_Personae_-_Examiners. Details