Bennetts Collection

Hear sport in the words of those who lived it. The Bennetts Collection features 86 oral history interviews with some of Australia’s greatest athletes, recorded between 1975 and 1995. From the cricket pitch to the boxing ring, the pool to the polo field, these voices offer rare insights into the highs, lows and lasting impact of a life in sport.

Sport

Key items in the collection

This collection hosts a range of formats, including:

The Neil Bennetts Collection includes 86 oral history interviews with some of Australia’s most well-known sports figures. Most of the interviews were recorded in Sydney between 1975 and 1995. Many of the people interviewed had retired from sport in the 10 to 20 years before their interview, though a few had ended their careers earlier, in the first half of the 20th century.

Oral history interviews – sports figures

The interviews cover a wide range of sports, including:

Athletics: Ralph Doubell, Marlene Matthews
Boxing
Bridge
Chess
Cricket: Alan Davidson, Neil Harvey, Keith Miller
Golf: Kel Nagle, Norman Von Nida
Handball
Horseracing: T.J. Smith
Polo: Sinclair Hill
Rugby league: Keith Barnes, Reg Gasnier, Kevin Ryan
Rugby union: Ken Catchpole, Nicholas Shehadie, Dick Thornett
Surfing
Swimming: John Devitt, Ilsa Konrads, Murray Rose, Mina Wylie
Tennis: Jack Crawford, Adrian Quist
Woodchopping
Yachting: John Anderson, James Hardy, Bill Northam
Motor racing: Jack Brabham, Jack Murray

Oral history interviews – sports administrators

The collection also features interviews with key sports administrators, including:

Phil Coles
Sir Adrian Curlewis
Sydney Grange
David McKenzie
Berge Phillips
Arthur Tunstall
Bill Young.

Oral history interviews – other fields

While the collection focuses on sport, a few interviews are with well-known Australians from other fields:

Aviation: Edgar Percival
Journalism: Simon Townsend
Cartooning: Jim Russell

About Neil Bennetts

Neil Bennetts was born in 1943 in Sydney. He went to Coogee Public School, Randwick Boys High School and Scots College.

After finishing school, he worked for Lawrence Publishing Company, which produced several trade magazines. In 1966, the company launched Epicurean, a journal created for the Wine and Food Society of Australia.

Bennetts later became a journalist with Cumberland Newspapers, part of News Limited. The group published many of Sydney’s suburban newspapers. After about 10 years in journalism, he left to start his own timber joinery business.

Personal life

In 1979, Bennetts married Deborah de Berg. She is the daughter of Hazel de Berg, a pioneering oral historian whose recordings are part of the Library’s collection.

Sporting achievements

From the 1960s to the mid-1970s, Bennetts was deeply involved in ocean yachting. He competed in 16 Sydney–Hobart yacht races. In 1967, he was part of the Australian team that won the prestigious Admiral’s Cup in England.

Oral history project

Recognising his love of sport and close connections with many top athletes, Hazel de Berg encouraged Bennetts to record interviews with prominent sportsmen and sportswomen. This became the foundation of his oral history project.

Background to the collection

The oral histories recorded by Bennetts were purchased by the Library between 1975 and 1995.

Neil Bennetts Collection

The Neil Bennetts Collection is held in the Oral History Collection. All the interviews have been catalogued individually and some can also be listened to online.