Guide to the Papers of Isobel Bennett, 1944-2000

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9348

Creator:

Isobel Bennett

Extent:

1.85 metres and (12 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Isobel Bennett, National Library of Australia, MS 9348, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for Reference.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers document many aspects of Isobel Bennett's career as a marine biologist, including her fieldwork, writings and participation in a number of scientific expeditions. They include correspondence, personal documents, biographical references, field notebooks, typescripts of most of her books, reviews and other cuttings, photographs, reprints, reports and other publications. Particular strengths of the collection are the records of her research on the coasts of eastern Australia, the Great Barrier Reef and Macquarie Island.

The earliest papers date from 1944, when Bennett was 35. There are, however, a number of autobiographical and biographical writings that provide information about her family and childhood and her early years in the Department of Zoology at the University of Sydney.

Biographical Note:

Isobel Bennett was born in Brisbane on 9 July 1909. She was educated at Somerville House, Brisbane. She left school at the age of 16 and enrolled in a business college. She worked at a patent attorney's office and, when her family moved to Sydney in 1928, she spent four years on the staff of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

In 1933 Bennett joined the staff of the Zoology Department of the University of Sydney. Until 1943 she was the secretary, librarian, demonstrator and research assistant to Professor W.J. Dakin. From 1945 to 1948 she was research assistant to Professor Dakin and, after his death, she was research assistant to Professor P.D.F. Murray. From 1950 onwards she regularly led parties of students to the Heron Island and Lizard Island Research Stations in the Great Barrier Reef and in the 1950s did field work on the Victorian and Tasmanian coasts. In 1959 she made her first visit to Macquarie Island with the ANARE relief ship and she returned in 1960, 1965 and 1968. In 1963 she was Dean of Women on the Stanford University research ship Te Vega, which sailed from San Diego to Singapore. She was a delegate to the 11th Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo in 1966.

Since her retirement from Sydney University in 1971, Isobel Bennett has maintained an active life of research and writing. In 1973 she attended the 2nd International Symposium on Coral Reefs. She carried out surveys of the coastal rock platforms at Jervis Bay and Ulladulla in 1973, 1974 and 1977 and did fieldwork on the coasts of Lord Howe Island in 1974, Norfolk Island in 1980 and Flinders Island in 1981. She continued to visit Heron Island until 1995.

In 1963 Bennett was awarded the first Honorary Master of Science degree at Sydney University. In 1982 she was awarded the Mueller Medal by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science and in 1984 she became an Officer of the Order of Australia. In 1995 she was made a Doctor of Science by the University of New South Wales.

Bennett assisted W.J. Dakin on the research for his book Australian seashores (1952). She was co-author of the revised editions of 1960, 1963, 1966, 1969, 1976 and 1980 and sole author of the 1987 and 1992 editions. Her other books are The fringe of the sea (1966), On the seashore (1969), Shores of Macquarie Island (1971), The Great Barrier Reef (1971 and later editions), A coral reef handbook (1978 and later editions), Discovering Lord Howe Island (1979), Discovering Norfolk Island (1983) and Australia's Great Barrier Reef (1987).

Provenance:

The papers were donated by Dr Bennett to the National Library under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme in 1996 and 1997. A further consignment was received in September 2000.

Arrangement:

Although the general arrangement of the papers has been imposed by the Library, all files created by Bennett have been kept intact.

Indexed terms

Names:

Isobel Bennett

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3036494).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Isobel Bennett, National Library of Australia, MS 9348, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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