Bennett wrote many articles which were published over the years in newspapers. He was the eldest of seven children of Richard Bennett and Ann Isabella (Kirk),of England.The family travelled from London to Sydney in 1833 but returned to England in 1837. Richard jnr arrived back in Sydney in 1843. (his parents also later returned in the 1870's.) Bennett's mother was from a large family and Bennett's Kirk relatives settled throughout the colonies of Australia, (especially through the Rutledge/Kirk/Knight relations at Port Fairy.)
Bennett had a varied career,upon his arrival he undertook a training course in sheep which led to a long career on pastoral stations in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.He eventually returned to the Port Fairy-Warrnambool region and began his hobby of writing articles of historical interest after Richard Osborne released his highly praised "History of Warrnambool". Osborne's history was about the settlement of Warrnambool, whereas Bennnett's articles are usually about his involvement in incidents, or are account of early settlement in which he invariably includes himself. His published articles included:

   'Early Days on the Victorian Goldfields 1 - 4'
   'Old Bendigo'
   'Early Days of Port Phillip 1 - 2'
   'Early Station Settlement in Central Australia' No 1 & 2 (below)
   'Old Time Sketches'
   'Bush Life Forty Years Ago 1 - 5'
   'The Aborigines of Australia, their Habits & Customs'
   'Pioneer Victorian Colonists-Recollections of My early Life 1 - 2'
   'The Earlist Days of Melbourne 1 - 3'
   'Our Coastal Wrecks'
   'Our Coal Prospects''
   'Our Horses Hoofs'
   'Recollections of Some of the Early Bushrangers'
   'Lost in the Bush'
   'Artisian Wells'
   'Entomological Studies - The Mason Fly'
	

Early Station Settlement in Central Australia 
(no 2)by Richard Bennett

At this run (Buchuagny) adjoining the Colane station on the Duck Creek,
which I had been formerly managing, I was well acquainted with the
country, which greatly assisted me in deciding upon the most suitable
localities for sheep stations.  Mr Whitney's time being fully occupied
with the cattle,and not wishing to interfere in any way with the sheep
arrangments, the whole direction of them and the extensive water
improvements which were carried out on the station devolved upon me.
Just at this time Messrs Robertson and Wagner visited the station,
and with Mr Whitney, their partner, and myself, made an inspection
fot eh run, when I pointed out what I considered the most suitable
sites for constructing dams and tanks, which, meeting with their
approval, I was given carte blanche to go ahead and make them.
Water the run wanted, and water it must have any cost, so on their 
return to Bathurst they despatched tipcarts, wheelbarrows, picks and 
shovels,and all the requisites for earthwork.  
I got a number of men together and commenced a large dam on the creek 
in the centre of the run. One important instrument - a spirit level- 
was forgotten, and without its aid I could not fix my levels, so I 
set to work and constructed a level as follows. I got a piece of flat 
board, and in the centre fixed an upright 6 inches high, to the top of 
this I fixed a cross piece 12 inches long, taking care that it was 
perfectly square with the bottom board.  The instrument,when finished, 
presented the exact image of the letter T.  
I floated the board in a tin dish full of water, and took my sights 
along the top.  My next perplexity was how to provide a race, 
or get-away for the surplus water, when the dam was full.  The plains 
on either side were a dead level.  The soil was a soft rich alluvium
that melted away with a run of water like sugar, and if allowed to run
around the ends of the dam would in a few hours,cut a fresh channel, 
besides carrying away the earth embankment.  Now, I had, when a boy
at school,jibbed at the  pons asinorum in Euciid, but I hacked
it over somehow, but here was a greater problem for me to work out,viz,
to block as much of a huge body of water coming down a cree as I 
required, backing it up for many miles, and let the overflow escape
into the creek below, leaving my damn intact.  Well, I didn't do as
the poet did, when in "a fine frenzy" who pulled out his teeth and
tore his hair, waiting for an inspiration, so I thought and considered
and being well acquainted with the courses of the flood water, hit on
a plan.  As ours were the first dams in that part, I hda no precedent
to guide me, so we worked away, pick and shovel, carts and wheel-
barrows, for I had a large gang of men, and we execavated an
immense hole in front of the dam in the bed of the creek, all stiff
blue clay.  With this we made the embankment across the creek. It 
was a huge affair, containing many hundreds of cubic yards. When we got
in a level with the banks, I set the men to dig a trench about a foot
deep, and three feet wide, for 150 feet, on each side of the damn out
into the plains.  This trench I filled up with the blue clay,of the
creek, to stop the leakage  (to be continued.......)

	





note from J.Fawcett: These are newspaper articles,and should only 
be used as a general reference. Original sources should always
be accessed for family history purposes and information authenticated.
copyright,2001 J.Fawcett-Genseek 
WS.30071888