General Sir Phillip Harvey Bennett, (born 27 December 1928) is a retired senior officer of the Australian Army who served as Chief of the Australian Defence Force from 1984 to 1987, and later as Governor of Tasmania from 1987 to 1995. Early life Bennett was born in Perth, Western Australia, and educated at Perth Modern School and the Royal Military College, Duntroon, from which he graduated as a lieutenant on 14 December 1948. With 13 other new officers, he was posted in March 1949 to 67 Infantry Battalion, The Australian Regiment, then in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, Japan. Military career Bennett served in Japan until September 1950 and then embarked with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment for Korea where he served for a year during which he was wounded in action on 14 October 1950, remaining on duty, and Mentioned in Despatches in 1951. He served again for 12 months in Korea from 1 September 1952 as Senior Instructor, then Chief Instructor, with the 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade Junior NCO School while posted as Tactics Instructor at the School of Infantry in Seymour, Victoria. On return to Australia in 1953, Bennett became the Adjutant of the 1st Battalion, Pacific Islands Regiment in PNG. In 1954 he was Adjutant with the 16th Infantry Battalion (CMF) and in 1956 Staff Captain A in HQ Western Command. In 1957–58 he served in the United Kingdom with the Royal Marine Commandos and saw duty in Malta, and operational service in Cyprus. He then served as OC 2nd Commando Company from July 1958 to June 1961, and after attending the Australian Staff College, became the Senior Instructor, then Chief Instructor, at Officer Cadet School, Portsea from 1962 to 1965. He was then posted until 10 July 1967 to Army HQ which had moved to Canberra in the early 1960s from Melbourne. Bennett then commanded the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, where he was a key commander in the Battle of Coral–Balmoral. This battle was the largest unit-level action of the Vietnam War for the Australians and today the battle is considered one of the most famous actions fought by the Australian Army during the war. For his service in Vietnam in 1968–69, Bennett was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. On return from UK Joint service training in 1971 he became Colonel Coordination in the office of Chief of the General Staff and in