The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Bennett, George
Bennett, George, M.D., F.R.C.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S., was born at Plymouth on Jan. 31st, 1804. He visited Ceylon in 1819, and on his return studied for the medical profession, becoming M.R.C.S. (England) in 1828, F.R.C.S. (England) and M.D. of Glasgow University in 1859. After passing the college he took charge of a circumnavigating expedition, the results of which he published in papers contributed to the leading scientific journals. In 1832 he revisited New South Wales to investigate the manners, habits and anatomy of the Monotremata, and the natural history of the colony in general. After visiting Java, Singapore and China, he published his "Wanderings in New South Wales" in 1834, and finally settled in that colony in 1836. He was the first secretary to the Australian Museum, and, although much occupied with his extensive practice as a medical man, was able to add materially to the knowledge of the natural history of New South Wales. He was the first to discover the Nautilus in a living state, and sent a specimen to Professor Owen. In 1860 he published "Gatherings of a Naturalist."