Double Lecture: General Gordon Bennett and Pleasures of War

First lecture starting 10:30am: General Gordon Bennett’s Controversial Escape from Singapore, February 1942

In February 1942, Lieutenant General Gordon Bennett controversially handed over command of 8th Division AIF and fled Singapore as it surrendered to the Japanese. He claimed that he escaped to advise Australia on how to fight the Japanese, but was condemned by many as a Page 2 of 2 deserter who abandoned his troops. The fallout split Australia and sparked significant military and legal scrutiny. This talk will weigh-up the circumstances surrounding General Bennett’s highly disputed departure from the warzone.

Dallis Fellows is a member of the Military History Society of New South Wales with a passion for the history of World War II in the South-West Pacific and a longstanding interest in the case of General Bennett, which she has researched at length.

Second lecture starting 11:20am: The Pleasures of War

War is usually discussed through its horrors — death, injury, violence, trauma, destruction. When people think about human experience in war, suffering dominates the frame. Yet personal accounts from soldiers, humanitarians, journalists, and many other war workers reveal something rarely acknowledged: war also generates a range of pleasures. This talk investigates the overlooked dimension of pleasure in war and the implications of its exclusion from how we think about war. Drawing on interviews, poetry and memoirs from war workers across many conflicts, this talk will explore a range of pleasures absent from discussions around war — job satisfaction, emotional connection, meaning, excitement, pride, purpose and much more.          

Dr Jackie Dent is a journalist, author and researcher. Her journalism has appeared in a wide range of international and Australian outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, Reuters, The Sydney Morning Herald, Strewth, the ABC and others. She has served as a communications advisor and spokesperson for the United Nations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Sudan and North Ossetia, and worked for many other development institutions, government, and non-profit organisations. Her book The Great Dead Body Teachers (2023) was longlisted for both the Walkley Book Award and the Mark & Evette Moran NIB Literary Award. She was awarded a PhD in International Relations from the University of Sydney for her work in war studies.