Bennett was born at
Castlemaine,
Colony of Victoria. He moved to the
Colony of South Australia in 1876 to take up a position of assistant teacher with that State's Education Department. Six years later he was appointed headmaster of the
Moonta Mines School. In 1882 he enrolled at the Adelaide Teachers' Training College, and on completion was appointed first assistant at
North Adelaide. He was then successively served as head teacher at
Truro,
Salisbury,
Burra,
Port Pirie,
Thebarton, and
Port Adelaide. In 1915 he was appointed headmaster of the
Hindmarsh School, then in 1921 transferred to the newly-opened
Norwood Central School and remained in charge there until 1928, when he retired. Bennett was noted for his involvement with the State School Teachers' Union. He served three years as its treasurer, two years vice-president, and was twice president. He was for twelve years the teachers' representative on the Public Teachers' Classification Board, and also served on the board of the Public Teachers' Superannuation Fund. He was president of the South Australian Public Officers' Association. ==Other interests==