Richard Bennett was the first born child of Richard Bennett and Ann Isabella Kirk in February 1828 in London England. His father was a silk weaver. His family came to Sydney in 1833 but then returned to England in 1837. Richard came out himself in 1843 when he undertook a training course on the care of sheep. He first visited Belfast in January 1846 and described it as being" The centre of a large squatting district". In 1853 he married Elizabeth Nicholson Watson at St Johns Church of England Belfast Victoria. They had 11 children, 6 registered in Victoria and the other 5 born in New South Wales. Richard's aunt (or sister some sources say) Isabella married into "Belfast Royalty" by marrying Lloyd Rutledge in 1852 and they built 'Cooinda' in 1855 and lived there. However, Lloyd apparently fell down the steps drunk one night in 1858 and broke his neck. Richard's brother Ryder Bennett was Rutledge's accountant. (William or Lloyd?) Richard's sister Matilda married James Mylne knight. Richard Bennett worked on a number of properties in the district as well as heading to New South Wales in 1858 -1870 then he returned to the Port Fairy Area. He established the River Shaw Wool Scouring establishment at Yambuk in 1876 but by 1879 he had moved his business to the banks of the Merri River Dennington. He retired in 1887 and lived the rest of his life in Warrnambool. He died on 11th September 1904. Richard Bennett wrote many letters to the local newspapers regarding the early history of the district in 1984 these letters were published under the title "Richard Bennett's Early Days of Port Fairy" A book named "Richard Bennett's Early Days of Port Fairy" was edited by Jan Crichett using his letters Early settler noted for his letters regarding the Early Days of Port FairyBlack and white portrait of gentleman with a squared collarpionner, bennett, richard, dennington., early days of port fairy, river shaw wool scouring

This book gives a comprehensive and scholarly account of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition in Australia in 1860-1961. It is written by Peter Fitzsimons. The narrative includes the parts played in the expedition by two men who also had important connections to Warrnambool. One of these was Henry Foster who was Superintendent of Police in Swan Hill in the 1860s. In the early 1840s Henry Foster and Thomas Strong took up a run of 16.000 acres (St. Mary’s, Wangoom)). Their land was bounded on the south by the Southern Ocean, on the east by the Hopkins River, on the north by a fence from the Hopkins to the Merri Rivers and on the west by the Merri River and included the later surveyed site of the Warrnambool township. After Warrnambool was established Foster was able to retain 450 acres of the original run near Wangoom on the Hopkins River. He was active in Warrnambool’s early history, was a Justice of the Peace for the Belfast (Port Fairy) district in the late 1840s and his portrait is on the Warrnambool Pioneer Honour Board. The other local Warrnambool personality mentioned in the Burke and Wills book is Richard Bennett, in the 1860s, the manager of several large farming properties in N.S.W., including Canally Station on the Murrumbidgee where he came into contact with the expedition leaders. In the Warrnabool district Bennett was well-known from the 1870s to his death in 1904 as the proprietor of wool-scouring establishments on the Shaw River and at Dennington and as a public campaigner for local coal exploration, for artesian bore drilling and for numerous other projects, including the development of the local wool industry. His portrait is also on the Warrnambool Pioneer Honour Board. This book is retained as an account of an important event in Australia’s history and because it has several references to two men (Henry Foster and Richard Bennett) who also played a part in Warrnambool’s history. This is a hard cover book of 700 pages. The cover is black with gold printing on the spine and the dust cover has a cream background with light brown and black printing, black and white photographs and sepia-coloured sketches. The contents include a List of Maps, Dramatis Personae, Background and Acknowledgements, Prologue, 18 Chapters, Epilogue, Endnotes, Bibliography and Index. The pages contain maps, sketches and black and white and colour photographs. australian exploration, burke and wills expedition, richard bennett, warrnambool, henry foster, st. mary’s wangoom, history of warrnambool