Benjamin Holland Bennett (1872 – 12 July 1939) was an Australian politician. He was an

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

from 1912 to 1913. Bennett was born in

Young, New South Wales Young is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and the largest town in the Hilltops Region. The "Lambing Flat" Post Office opened on 1 March 1861 and was renamed "Young" in 1863. Young is marketed as the Cherry Ca ...

and was educated at Young Superior Public School. He studied law, but when his father, owner of the ''

Burrangong Argus The Burrangong Argus was an Australian newspaper based in Young, New South Wales, published twice-weekly from 1865 to 1913. It was, at the time of its closure, the oldest newspaper in Young. It sold at 6d per copy, then 3d per copy and finally 1d p ...

'' newspaper, died, Bennett returned to the family newspaper as manager and editor, and then later owner after acquiring his mother's interest. Although Bennett's father had been conservative in his politics, Bennett was supportive of Labor and a long-rumoured potential Labor candidate. He was secretary of the Young Turf Club and Burrangong Turf Club for many years and was president of the Young branch of the Labor Party. Bennett was elected to the House of Representatives at a 1912 by-election after the resignation of David Hall to serve as NSW Solicitor-General. The ''Argus'' ceased publication in February 1913, with its assets sold to the ''

Young Witness ''The Young Witness'' is a newspaper published in Young, New South Wales, Australia. It has previously been published under the names ''Daily Witness'' and ''South West News Pictorial''. History The ''Young Witness'' was first published in 1 ...

''. Bennett's term in parliament was short-lived, however, as an unfavourable electoral redistribution hampered his chances of re-election and he decided not to contest the 1913 federal election. Bennett was appointed a clerk in the New South Wales Registrar-General's Department in 1917 and retired from the department in 1936. During the 1920s, he was president of the Public Service section of the Australian Clerical Association and the union's vice-president. Bennett died in 1939 and was cremated at Rookwood Crematorium.

References

Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Werriwa Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1872 births 1939 deaths People from Young, New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub