Walter Bennett (11 March 1864 – 16 July 1934) was a politician, journalist and printer in New South Wales, Australia.

Biography

He was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, to labourer Thomas Bennett and Maria, ''née'' Cole. After a local education he became a journalist, eventually owning a newspaper in the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

district. On 10 December 1884 he married Margaret Mahoney at

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, with whom he would have six children. He arrived in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in 1885 and purchased the '' Moruya Times'', and in 1888 added the ''

Dungog Chronicle ''Dungog Chronicle'', originally published as the ''Durham Chronicle and Dungog & Williams River Advertiser'', is a twice weekly English language newspaper published in Dungog, New South Wales, Australia. History The paper was established b ...

'', which he also edited. In 1898, he was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

, representing

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

. He joined the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

in 1901 and remained a member until 1907, when he was defeated as part of the Progressives' electoral destruction. He had served as a minister without portfolio in the

See ministry __NOTOC__ The See ministry was the 30th ministry of the New South Wales Government, and was led by the 14th Premier, Sir John See. The title of Premier was widely used to refer to the Leader of Government, but was not a formal position in the ...

from 1901 to 1904, and for two months as Secretary for Public Works in the Waddell ministry from June to August 1904. In 1913, he served as president of the recently-formed

Country Party Association The Country Party Association was an early attempt to establish an agrarian party in New South Wales. It was formed in 1913 as a reaction against the Farmers' and Settlers' Association of New South Wales's policy of co-operation and joint endor ...

. Bennett remained active in the community of the Dungog area and became involved in the

Farmers and Settlers Association The Farmers' and Settlers' Association of New South Wales was an umbrella organisation of farmers' and selectors' associations in New South Wales, founded in 1893. History The Association was formed in 1893 as the outcome of a conference held in C ...

. In 1917 he was re-elected as the independent member for Durham, ultimately joining the new, rural-based

. During the period of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

he was one of the members for

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

. He was part of the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

faction of the Progressives, and in 1922, in common with the rest of that group, he joined the Nationalist Party. When single-member districts were re-introduced in 1927 he represented

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. Bennett died at

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

in 1934 and was succeeded in the Assembly by his son

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

. His funeral service was held at St. Chads Church, Cremorne on 17 July 1934. His body was transported to

Dungog, New South Wales Dungog is a country town on the Williams River in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Located in the middle of dairy and timber country, it is the centre of the Dungog Shire local government area and at the 2016 census it had a po ...

for burial.

References

1864 births 1934 deaths Independent members of the Parliament of New South Wales Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales United Australia Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Wellington City Australian newspaper editors Ministers without portfolio {{Australia-Nationalist-politician-stub