Samuel Bennett Samuel Bennett i(A32377 works by)
Also writes as: 'Beta'
Born: Established: 1815 Cornwall,
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England,
c
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
; Died: Ceased: 2 Jun 1878 Coogee, Randwick area, Sydney Eastern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,
Gender: Male
Arrived in Australia: 1841
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Works By

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1 The Wreck of the Dunbar i "Her broad wing spreading to the breeze, she sailed in all her pride", Samuel Bennett , 1878 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Australian Town and Country Journal , 17 August vol. 18 no. 449 1878; (p. 312-313) The Australian Town and Country Journal , 3 September vol. 36 no. 921 1887; (p. 478)
1 8 y separately published work icon The Australian Town and Country Journal Town and Country Journal A. B. Paterson (editor), Samuel Bennett (editor), Walter James Jeffery (editor), Angus Mackay (editor), Gordon B. Stronach (editor), James A. Hogue (editor), Ernest Edward Waters (editor), 1870 Sydney : Frank Bennett Christopher Bennett , 1870-1919 Z869641 1870 newspaper (2296 issues)
1 A True Moreton Bay Story Samuel Bennett , 1866 extract column (The History of Australian Discovery and Colonisation)
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 9 June 1866; (p. 2-3)
Bennett explains the circumstances of the discovery of the Brisbane River and the establishment of Moreton Bay settlement. He relates the story of how a traveller named Uniacke, by publishing the story of his encounter with a castaway, Thomas Pamphlet, contested explorer John Oxley's claim of discovering the river. Pamphlet had been travelling from Sydney on board a ship that encountered a gale which blew it off course, and well out to sea. Mistakenly believing they were correcting their course, the crew headed much farther north until their lack of water and supplies forced them to make landfall at what eventually became the site of Moreton Bay. It was not Oxley who discovered the Brisbane River, claimed Uniacke, but Pamphlet and his shipmates.
1 y separately published work icon The History of Australian Discovery and Colonisation History of Australian Discovery and Exploration; Australian Discovery and Colonisation Samuel Bennett , 1865 Sydney : Hanson and Bennett , 1865 Z1795224 1865 single work non-fiction
1 Lament of the Last Tasmanian Aborigine i "Land of my birth - my childhood's home!", 'Beta' , 1859 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8 February vol. 40 no. 6451 1859; (p. 5) The Courier , 17 February 1859; (p. 2) The Australian Town and Country Journal , 10 June vol. 13 no. 426 1876; (p. 933)
1 The Indian Mutiny i "From every shire of England -", 'Beta' , 1858 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4 February 1858; (p. 3)
1 Address to the Comet i "What art thou, meteor of the night?", 'Beta' , 1858 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 1 November 1858; (p. 2) The Australian Town and Country Journal , 14 February vol. 21 no. 527 1880; (p. 314)
1 16 y separately published work icon The Empire Henry Parkes (editor), Samuel Bennett (editor), William Hanson (editor), Samuel Bennett (editor), William Charles Wilkes (editor), 1850 Sydney : Henry Parkes , 1850-1858 Z950262 1850 newspaper (1072 issues)

The Empire was established by Henry Parkes in December 1850, and for much of its life was probably Sydney's second major newspaper, after the more conservative Sydney Morning Herald. It was initially published once a week, but soon afterward appeared as a daily. A weekly version intended for country readers was published from October 1860, through until late 1869.

The Empire commenced publication right at the end of the penal colony era, when New South Wales was entering a period of significant political and social transformation. Under Parkes, the Empire was initially quite a radical publication and in its early period it continued the radical press tradition which briefly flourished in early to mid-19th century Sydney. However, from about the time Parkes entered politics in May 1854, he increasingly used the newspaper to promote his own political career, and it became essentially a mouthpiece of Parkes the politician.

Parkes's connection with the Empire ended abruptly in August 1858, when he became insolvent. The newspaper then ceased publication for some nine months until revived by printers Samuel Bennett and William Hanson in May 1859. Under the new proprietors, the Empire became a far more staid affair, and whilst it continued as a trenchant critic of the old order, it adopted what was in effect a mid-19th century liberal position, advocating moderate political and social reform rather than utopia.

In July 1867, Hanson was forced to relinquish his interest in the Empire by the newspaper's major creditor, after which Bennett became the sole proprietor. Whether Hanson had become a victim of Bennett's own publishing ambitions is unclear, but within weeks of Hanson's departure, Bennett moved to expand his newspaper stable by launching the Evening News, which subsequently became his flagship. From about this point the Empire became a second string publication, cut to four pages and pruned of much of its once formidable editorial and literary content.

By the time Bennett launched his weekly Australian Town and Country Journal in January 1870, the Empire's fate was probably sealed, although it lingered on until February 1875, when Bennett eventually shut it down during a compositors' strike. Presumably by this point the Empire was no longer profitable.

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