George Bennett (naturalist)

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For other persons named George Bennett, see George Bennett (disambiguation).

George Bennett
Bennett in c. 1880
Born(1804-01-31)31 January 1804
Plymouth, England
Died29 September 1893(1893-09-29) (aged 89)
Sydney, Australia
Occupation(s)Physician, naturalist
Known forCasuarius bennettii, Dendrolagus bennettianus, Myrrophis bennetti

George Bennett

FZS[1] (31 January 1804 – 29 September 1893) was an English-born Australian physician and naturalist, winner of the Clarke Medal
in 1890.

Early life

Bennett was born at

F.R.C.S.[3]

Career

After qualifying as a physician Bennett obtained employment as a ship's surgeon, and visited Sydney, New South Wales, in 1829. In 1832 his friend Richard Owen was engaged in examining the structure and relations of the mammary glands of the Ornithorhyncus, and Bennett became so interested that on leaving England shortly afterwards for Australia he determined while in that country to find a solution of the question.[3]

In May 1832 Bennett left Plymouth on a voyage which terminated almost exactly two years later. An account of this appeared in 1834 in two volumes under the title Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore and China. In 1835 Bennett published in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, vol. I, pp. 229–58, "Notes on the Natural History and Habits of the Ornithorhyncus paradoxus, Blum", one of the earliest papers of importance written on the platypus.[3]

Portrait of Dr George Bennett

In 1833, Bennett lent support in absentia to the founding of what became the

Sydney Botanic Gardens and the Acclimatization Society, and was a vice-president of the Zoological Society, and a member of the board of the Australian Museum.[3]

Bennett also contributed papers to The Lancet, the Medical Gazette, the Journal of Botany, Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, and other journals. The variety of his interests may be suggested by the fact that he published in 1871 papers on "A Trip to Queensland in Search of Fossils" and on "The Introduction, Cultivation and Economic Uses of the Orange and Others of the Citron Tribe".[4]

A portrait of Elau, a young Melanesian girl from Erromango.
Portrait of Elau

Elau and the gibbon

In addition to the nautilus, Bennett took a Sumatran gibbon specimen to England as well as a young Erromangan girl named Elau, who was the first person from the New Hebrides to visit Europe. All died swiftly, with Elau surviving 4 years until the age of 10 before dying of tuberculosis. Bennett had Elau and the ape dissected. His method of acquisition of Elau is unclear, but his intentions were to 'civilise' her in an effort to investigate the nature of 'goodness' and investigate his and his peers' theories that were based in scientific racism.[5][6]

Late life and legacy

Bennett was 84 years of age when he contributed the chapter on "Mammals" to the Handbook of Sydney, prepared for the Sydney meeting of the

Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held in 1888. The Royal Society of New South Wales awarded Bennett the Clarke memorial medal in 1890 for his valuable contributions to the natural history of Australia. Bennett died in Sydney on 29 September 1893.[2][3]

Bennett is commemorated in the scientific names of the dwarf cassowary (Casuarius bennettii), Bennett's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus), Bennett's two-pored dragon (Diporiphora bennettii), and Bennett's water snake (Myrrophis bennetti).[7]

George Bennett in late life

He left a large library of books on Australiana that was purchased by William Dymock.[8]

Family

Bennett married three times: on 28 November 1835 to Julia Anne Ludovina Cameron (c. 1820 – 15 June 1846), daughter of

prussic acid.[9] They had two sons and three daughters.[2]
He married Charlotte James Elliott (c. 1817 – 20 February 1853) on 10 December 1846; they had one son. He married Sarah Jane Adcock on 4 January 1854; their two children died as infants.

Works authored

  • Bennett, George (1834). 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 (Vol. 1) Archived 2016-03-25 at the Wayback Machine London: Richard Bentley, University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, China Through Western Eyes[10]
  • Bennett, George (1834). 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 (Vol. 2) Archived 2016-08-26 at the Wayback Machine London: Richard Bentley, University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, China Through Western Eyes[10]
  • Acclimatisation: its eminent adaptation to Australia  (1 ed.). Melbourne: Acclimatisation Society of Victoria. 1862.
The standard author abbreviation G.Benn. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[11]

References

  1. ^ Mennell, Philip (1892). "Bennett, George" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  2. ^ a b c d A. H. Chisholm (1966). "Bennett, George (1804 - 1893)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. pp. 85–86. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e Serle, Percival (1949). "Bailey, George Bennett". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  4. ^ Serle, Percival (1949). "Bailey, George Bennett". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  5. doi:10.1080/00223349808572856
    . Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  6. ISSN 0022-3344
    .
  7. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5
    . ("Bennett, G.", p. 23).
  8. ^ Stitz, Charles (June 2011). "The story of Australian book collectors". Biblionews (370): 56.
  9. ^ "Melancholy Suicide". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 16 June 1846. p. 2. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  10. ^ a b "Review of Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore, and China; being the Journal of a Naturalist during 1832, 1833, and 1834 by George Bennett". The Quarterly Review. 53: 1–19. February 1835.
  11. ^ International Plant Names Index.  G.Benn.
Awards
Preceded by Clarke Medal
1890 		Succeeded by
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