William Christopher Bennett (4 July 1824 – 29 September 1889) was an Irish born surveyor and engineer active in colonial Australia, Commissioner and Engineer-in-Chief for Roads and Bridges in

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Early life

Bennett was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland, the eldest son of Ignatius Bennett, a traffic manager, and his wife Alicia, ''née'' Garvey. Bennett was employed as a pupil on various territorial and railway surveys and other works in Ireland from 1840 to 1845, and as assistant engineer in charge of drainage works, under the Board of Public Works in Ireland, from 1845 to 1852.

Surveyor

During 1852-3 Bennett was employed in reporting on the navigation of the Rhone and

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name ...

, and making surveys and reports on the navigation of the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...

, with connecting canals, roads or railways, in New Grenada. Bennett was engaged on the International (French, American and English) Ship Canal Survey at the

Darién Gap The Darién Gap (, , es, Tapón del Darién , ) is a geographic region between the North and South American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest, and mountains in Panama's Darién Province and the norther ...

, in 1854, having charge of the English survey on the Pacific side in the absence of Mr. Forde, M.I.C.E., on which occasion Bennett received the thanks of the American Government for having, in conjunction with Lieut. Forsythe and a party from H.M.S. ''Virago'', relieved Lieut. Isaac Strain, United States navy, and his missing exploring party, at no small personal risk.

Career in Australia

At the end of 1854 Bennett proceeded, viâ

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 New South Wales, and was for about ten months attached to the Survey Department as an assistant surveyor. In April 1856 he was appointed assistant engineer to the Commission for the Sewerage and Water Supply of Sydney; was engaged in the Railway Department, New South Wales, from January to September 1857, and was then transferred to the Department of Roads, which, as assistant engineer, and ultimately as engineer, he assisted Captain (afterwards Colonel) Ben Hay Martindale, C.B., R.E., in organising. Bennett left the colony for Europe in January 1861, and on his return he was appointed, in November 1862, commissioner and engineering-chief for roads, New South Wales, which office he occupied until a short time before his death. Bennett designed the Prince Alfred Bridge over the

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

, and was engineer for the

Denison Bridge The Denison Bridge is a heritage-listed footbridge over the Macquarie River in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is the fourth oldest metal truss bridge existing in Australia. The bridge, completed in 1870, replaced an earlier bridge tha ...

over the Macquarie River, New South Wales. Bennett was also occasionally employed on the western goldfields and narrow gauge railways, the water supply of Sydney, and the drainage of the Hunter River. Bennett died on 29 September 1889, at the age of sixty-five in St Leonards, New South Wales.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, William Christopher 1824 births 1889 deaths Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Australian civil engineers Irish surveyors