People Australia

  • searches all National Centre of Biography websites
  • searches all National Centre of Biography websites
  • searches all National Centre of Biography websites

Browse Lists:

Cultural Advice

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website contains names, images, and voices of deceased persons.

In addition, some articles contain terms or views that were acceptable within mainstream Australian culture in the period in which they were written, but may no longer be considered appropriate.

These articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Australian National University.

Older articles are being reviewed with a view to bringing them into line with contemporary values but the original text will remain available for historical context.

David Monash Bennett (1924–1984)

This article was published:

David Monash Bennett (1924–1984) school principal, Labor Party official 

Birth: 25 June 1924 at 'Iona', Toorak, Melbourne, son of Gershon Bennett, dentist, and Bertha, née Monash. Marriage: (1) 1956 in Melbourne to Sonja Bargmann. They had two sons. (2) 1973 in Melbourne to Mary Lenore Wells. Death: 1 May 1984 in Glen Iris, Victoria. 

  • Grandson of General Sir John Monash.
  • Leading member of Victorian Fabian Society, primarily involved with educational reform.
  • Principal of experimental school, ERA, at Donvale, outer-suburban Melbourne, where he employed Albert Langer, Maoist student radical, as a teacher.
  • Full-time member of Whitlam-initiated Schools Commission.
  • Joined Australian Labor Party as ‘essentially a man of the centre’. One of those who paved the way for federal intervention in Victorian ALP and removal of hard-line executive in 1970. President of Victorian ALP Reconstruction Committee 1970.
  • Of an ‘independent, slightly eccentric nature’.
  • Cause of death prostate cancer.

Sources
Recorder
, 152, August 1988.

Additional Resources

Citation details

'Bennett, David Monash (1924–1984)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/bennett-david-monash-32415/text40202, accessed 30 March 2024.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012