 After qualifying as a physician Bennett obtained employment as a ship's surgeon, and visited Sydney, New South Wales, in 1829. ln 1832 his friend Richard Owen was engaged in examining the structure and relations of the mammary glands of the "Ornithorhyncus", and Bennett became so interested that on leaving England shortly afterwards for Australia he determined while in that country to find a solution of the question.In May 1832 Bennett left Plymouth on a voyage which terminated almost exactly two years later.An account of this appeared in 1834 in two volumes under the title "Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore and China".