| Browse >> Browse Search Results >> Series Details >> Agency DetailsIn 1914 Burnett married Florence Draper-Bentley, the daughter of an Australian mariner employed on the Yangtze River. By 1917 they had two sons; John Bain and Angus Glyn. Beni and Florence separated in 1930. Florence and their children returned to Britain, and Burnett moved to Singapore where he worked briefly with Swan and Mclaren (the architects who designed Raffles Hotel).
Beni Burnett arrived in Sydney in 1933. In 1937, he was appointed to the post of Architect Grade One for the Works and Services branch of the Department of the Interior, to be based in Darwin.
Burnett's first projects were residential accommodation for public servants, and it was in Darwin that Burnett created buildings designed to make living in the heat and humidity of the Top End more bearable. In 1938 Burnett completed his Type K house (Burnett House). In 1940 and 1941 Beni was also designing buildings for military, at Larrakeyah Barracks and the RAAF Base; buildings still in use today. Beni, along with the Commonwealth administration, was evacuated to Alice Springs after the 1941 air raids.
After the war Beni stayed in Alice Springs and set up his own practice in Todd Street. Burnett was Alices only resident architect in the 1940s and early 1950s. His most notable Alice Springs buildings include the Bond Springs homestead for aviator Eddie Connellan, the Riverside Hotel (now the Todd Tavern), and houses along Hartley Street.
Beni Burnett died in Alice springs in March 1955.
| Series Id | Series Title | Series Date Range | Number of Units | Public Access | Location |
| NTRS 1127 | Scrapbook of sketches and photographs | 1910 - 1913 | 1 | Restricted | Darwin (NTAC) |
| NTRS 2622 | Reference copy of scrapbook of sketches and photographs | 1910 - 1913 | 1 | Open | Darwin (NTAC) |
| NTRS 2623 | Digitised copy of scrapbook of sketches and photographs | 1910 - 1913 | 1 | Open | Darwin (NTAC) |