Obituaries Australia

In the obituary columns of The Mercury there appeared on Wednesday the notification of the passing of Mr George Dunn Bennett, of Geeveston, at the age of 80. The deceased gentleman had been intimately associated with the development of the Huon all his life, and particularly of Geeveston—that breeding ground of octogenarians and nonagenarians, who have continued to the last to be of value to the community, and whose prime was marked by a robust vigour which was highly necessary to themselves amid the roughness of the early pioneering days. Mr Bennett was a native of Franklin and claimed to have been the first white child born in that now important township. When he removed to Geeveston, early in life, he took up land for orcharding, and entirely by his own exertions this developed into one of the finest properties in the neighbourhood. He was a shrewd observer, a valued counsellor, and a devout churchman. He reared a large family—seven sons and three daughters—and as most of them with their descendants, remain faithful to the old birthplace, the family name is among the best known in Geeveston and its surroundings. The funeral took place in the Geeveston Church of England burial ground on Wednesday afternoon, and was the largest ever seen in the district, the attendance being remarkable for the very considerable number of old residents, in various parts of the Huon it included. The burial service was conducted by Archdeacon Whitington, in conjunction with the Vicar of Geeveston (the Rev Mr. Hadrill) and at its conclusion the Archdeacon promising that it was unusual to make remarks upon such in occasion, said that nevertheless they did sometimes make exception, and that the present occasion seemed to him to be one of those wherein exception might be made. He whose earthly body they had just laid to rest was a man noted throughout the length and breadth of the district for the pioneering work he had done, for the uprightness of his life, and for his devotion to the Church.