Cocky Bennett was a remarkably long-lived cockatoo who spent his early years sailing the South Seas with his friend and keeper, Captain Ellis. At age 78, after Ellis's death, Cocky took up residence at the Sea Breeze Hotel at Tom Ugly's Point in Blakehurst where he entertained locals from his cage on the front verandah until 1915 when Ellis's niece died. He spent his final years with Ellis's grandnephew at the Woolpack Hotel, in Canterbury, delighting his new friends with his colourful and excessive chatter. He died in 1916 aged 119 years.
