Place Names Register Extract
James Mallett Bennett Park
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Print Extract | Search Again| Name | James Mallett Bennett Park |
|---|---|
| Type Designation | Park |
| Place Id | 24780 |
| Place Type | Park or Cemetery |
| Status | Registered |
| Date Registered | 4 November 2019 |
| Location (Datum GDA94) | |
| Latitude: -12° 21' S (Decimal degrees -12.353835) | |
| Longitude: 130° 53' E (Decimal degrees 130.892049) | |
| View Map | View in NT Atlas | View in Google Earth | |
| Locality / Suburb | |
| Muirhead | |
| Lot/Portion | |
| Town of Nightcliff | |
| Local Government Area | |
| Darwin City Council | |
| History/Origin | James Mallett Bennett was born on 14 January 1894 in St Kilda, Victoria, an airman and mechanic. In 1912 he joined the militia and served for three years with the 49th Battalion. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915 and served with the British Expeditionary Force in Egypt. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his distinguished service as an air mechanic. After the Armistice, Bennett and Wally Shiers were invited to act as air mechanics for Captain Ross Smith, then attempting the first Cairo-Calcutta flight in a Handley-Page aircraft. In 1919 the Australian government offered a prize of £10,000 to the first aviator to fly from England to Australia within thirty days. Ross Smith and his brother Keith entered the race with Bennett and Shiers as their mechanics and were the first to reach Darwin. Their success aroused world-wide interest and acclaim. On 22 December the Smith brothers were knighted; Bennett and Shiers received Bars to their Air Force Medals. Popular opinion favoured greater recognition for the mechanics, especially after Ross Smith stated publicly that the success of the flight was mainly due to their skill and zeal. In 1922, the Smith brothers planned a-round-world flight with the same crew. A test flight on 13 April ended in disaster with Ross Smith and Bennett being killed. The pioneer aviators were mourned as national heroes and their bodies were brought back to Australia. Bennett was buried in St Kilda cemetery on 19 June 1922 after a lying-in-state at Queen's Hall, Parliament House. An obelisk in his honour was unveiled at St Kilda on 26 April 1927. |
Register & Gazettal information
| Date | Gazettal | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 04/11/2019 | Date added to the Register ( Certified Plan S2019/078) |