Person

Bennett, Isobel Ida Toon (1909 - 2008)

AO

Born
9 July 1909
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Died
12 January 2008
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Marine scientist

Summary

Isobel Bennett was a highly respected marine biologist, particularly as a pioneer of coral reef biology. With no formal training, her path was set by a meeting with William Dakin, Professor of Zoology at the University of Sydney. Bennett was his research assistant for 40 years. Dakin's book Australian seashores (1952), widely regarded as an essential guide to intertidal zones, was prepared for publication after his death by Bennett and Elizabeth Pope. From the 1940s Bennett was a frequent visitor to the Great Barrier Reef. She participated in the 1954 University of Queensland Expedition to the Low Isles, which enabled an assessment of faunal changes since the Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928 - 1929. Other expeditions in which she participated included in 1952 in Galatea along the Australian coast between Sydney and Adelaide, and in Stanford University's research vessel Te Vega in 1963. Bennett's book The Great Barrier Reef (1971) was the first book to give a general picture of the whole of the Reef. She was one of the first women to visit Macquarie Island, making four trips between 1959 and 1968 to study intertidal ecology in cold climates. One genus and five species of marine animals have been named after her. Geographic features named in Bennett's honour include Isobel Bennett Reef 21-505 on the Great Barrier Reef near Heron Island, and Lake Bennett on Macquarie Island. Her papers and a collection of her photographs were deposited in the National Library of Australia.

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Details

Chronology

1925 - 1928
Career position - Secretary at the Patent Attorney's Office
1928 - 1932
Career position - Secretary of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
1932 - 1933
Career position - Research work for Professor W.J. Dakin
1933 - 1971
Career position - Working variously as Secretary to the Departmental Librarian and Demonstrator, University of Sydney
1942 - 1945
Career position - Research Assistant to Dakin at Department of Home Security
1945 - 1948
Career position - Continued work with Dakin until his retirement
1948 - 1970
Career position - Made expeditions to the Great Barrier Reef
1954
Career event - Participated in University of Queensland Expedition to the Low Isles
1959 - 1968
Career event - Made four visits to Macquarie Island
1959 - 1971
Career position - Professional Officer, University of Sydney
1962
Award - Honorary Master of Science (MSc), University of Sydney
1962 - 2002
Career position - Foundation Member, Australian Marine Sciences Association
1963
Career position - Visiting Associate Professor, Stanford University, Sranford Californoa, U.S.A.
1973 - 1979
Career position - Member of Council, Great Barrier Reef Committee
1974 - 1979
Career position - Co-opted to the New South Wales Fisheries Department
1982
Award - Whitley Memorial Award, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales
1982
Award - Mueller Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
1984
Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of service to marine science
1988
Award - Whitley Memorial Award, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales
1995
Award - DSc honoris causa, University of New South Wales
1995
Award - Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc (Hon)), University of Sydney
2002 - 2008
Award - Honorary Life Member, Australian Marine Sciences Association

Colleague

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

  • Interview with Dr Isobel Bennett, marine biologist [sound recording] / interviewer, Diana Giese, 20 July 1999, TRC 3910; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Articles

Books

  • Bennett, Isobel, The Great Barrier Reef ([Melbourne]: Lansdowne, [1971]), 183 pp. Details
  • Bennett, Isobel, The fringe of the sea (Adelaide: Rigby, 1966), 261 pp. Details
  • Bennett, Isobel, Shores of Macquarie Island (Adelaide: Rigby, 1972), 69 pp. Details
  • Bennett, Isobel, Australia's Great Barrier Reef (Sydney: Collins: Australian Museum, 1987), 64 pp. Details
  • Bennett, Isobel, Australian seashores: adapted from W. J. Dakin's Australian seashores (Pymble, N.S.W.: Collins: Angus & Robertson, 1992), 266 pp. Details
  • Dakin, William J., W. J. Dakin's classic study Australian seashores: guide to the temperate shores for the beach-lover, the naturalist, the shore-fisherman and the student: fully revised and illustrated by Isobel Bennett (North Ryde, N.SW.: Angus & Robertson, 1987), 411 pp. Details
  • Dakin, William J.: assisted by Isobel Bennett and Elizabeth Pope, Australian seashores: a guide for the beach-lover, the naturalist, the shore fishermen, and the student (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1952), 372 pp. Details
  • Hooker, Claire, Irresistible Forces: Australian Women in Science (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2004), 215 pp. Details
  • Mather, Patricia; and Bennett, Isobel, A coral reef handbook: a guide to the fauna, flora and geology of Heron Island and adjacent reefs and cays (Brisbane: Great Barrier Reef Committee, 1978), 92 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Allen, Nessy, 'Australian Women in Science: Two Unorthodox Careers [Isobel Ida Toon Bennett and Helen Alma Newton Turner]', Women's Studies International Forum, 15 (5-6) (1992), 551-562. Details
  • Allen, Nessy, 'The Sea Has Many Voices: Profile of an Australian Woman Scientist [Isobel Ida Toon Bennett]', Journal of Australian Studies, 17 (38) (1993), 41-50. Details
  • Anon, 'Honorary Life Member Isobel Bennett', Australian Marine Science Bulletin, 160 (2002), 6. Details
  • Bennett, Isobel, 'Some pelagic molluscs and associated animals in south-eastern Australian waters', Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia, 1 (9) (1066), 40-51. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00852988.1966.10673812. Details
  • Byrne, Margaret; Broadhurst, Linda; Leishman, Michelle; and Belov, Kathy, 'Women in conservation science making a difference', Pacific Conservation Biology, 24 (1) (2018), 6, https://doi.org/10.1071/PC18061. Details
  • Byrne, Maria, 'Isobel Bennett: marine biologist extraordinaire', Australian Marine Science Bulletin, 177 (2008), 6-9. Details
  • Hutchings, Pat; Brown, Barbara E.; Byrne, Maria; Hamylton, Sarah; and Spencer, Tom, 'The remarkable contributions of ten outstanding women to Australian coral reef science', Historical Records of Australian Science, 34 (1) (2023), 19-35. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR22009. Details
  • I. B. [ie Isobel Bennett], 'Alan Neville Colefax, 1908 - 1961 (Memorial series, no. 20)', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 87 (2) (1962), 220-2. Details
  • Moyal, Ann, 'Isobel Bennett: doyenne of the seashores', National Library of Australia magazine, 2015 (March) (2015), 14-7. https://www.nla.gov.au/magazine/march-2015-issue. Details
  • Niland, John, 'Doctor of Science Award - Isobel Bennett', Australian Marine Science Bulletin, 130 (1995), 7-8. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

Theses

  • Carey, Jane, 'Departing from their sphere: Australian women and science, 1880-1960', PhD thesis, The University of Melbourne, 2003, 356 pp. Details

See also

  • Fagg, Murray, 'Bennett, Isobel Ida (1909 - 2008)', Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), 2010, https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/bennett-isobel-ida.html. Details
  • Herd, Margaret ed., Who's who in Australia 2002 (Melbourne: Crown Content, 2001), 2020 pp. Details
  • Millers, Kimberley, 'Women of AMSA [Australian Marine Sciences Association]', Australian Marine Science Bulletin, 190 (2013), 40-7. Details

Rosanne Walker and Helen Cohn

Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 14 February 2023

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