George Bennett (naturalist)

George Bennett M.D., F.R.C.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S., (31 January 1804 – 29 September 1893) was an English-born Australian physician and naturalist, winner of the Clarke Medal in 1890.

Bennett was born at Plymouth, England. On leaving school at 15 years of age he visited Ceylon and on his return studied for the medical profession, initially at Plymouth, later at the Middlesex Hospital and the Hunterian School of Medicine. He obtained the degree of M.R.C.S. on 7 March 1828, and later became F.R.C.S.

After qualifying as a physician Bennett obtained employment as a ship's surgeon, and visited Sydney, New South Wales, in 1829. ln 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.

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.

In 1833, Bennett lent support in absentia to the founding of what became the Royal Entomological Society of London. Bennett was awarded the honorary gold medal of the Royal College of Surgeons in recognition of his contributions to zoological science. Bennett went to Australia again in 1836 and established a successful practice as a physician at Sydney. However he kept up his general interest in science, and acted as honorary secretary of the Australian Museum which had just been established. He compiled A Catalogue of the Specimens of Natural History and Miscellaneous Curiosities deposited in the Australian Museum which was published in 1837. In 1860 he brought out his Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia. He kept up a correspondence with his early friend Sir Richard Owen, to whom he had sent the first specimens of the Nautilus to arrive in England, and with Darwin and other scientists of the time. He was much interested in 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.

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