Cocky Bennett was a remarkably long-lived cockatoo who, after sailing the South Seas, became a fixture at the Sea Breeze Hotel at Tom Ugly's Point in Blakehurst. This is one of the intriguing stories uncovered by the Dictionary in their recent Georges River project. Now sulphur-crested cockatoos have long lives, sometimes up to 80 years. But in Sydney, Cocky Bennett smashed all these records. He was reputed to be 119 years old when he finally died. So his life spanned the eighteenth, nineteenth and part of the twentieth centuries. Cocky spent his first 78 years travelling the world with Captain Ellis, his owner, who plied his ship in the South Sea Islands' trade. The parrot's confinement, and the Captain's loneliness, could account for the bird's talkativeness and his contact with other members of the crew, less literate than his owner, probably coarsened his vocabulary. He was an apt learner and a natural chatterbox. Captain Ellis died and Cocky was bequeathed to publicans Joseph and Sarah Bowden. The bird moved to Melbourne but came back to Sydney in 1889 with Sarah after her husband's death. She married Charles Bennett, another publican, and they moved in to Tom Ugly's Point where Charles became the publican of the Sea Breeze Hotel. Before motor traffic and modern bridges changed the scene, the Sea Breeze Hotel enjoyed great popularity as it was a convenient place to wait for the steam punt across the Georges River at Tom Ugly's Point and it had an excellent reputation for its cuisine, especially the seafood. When Charles died in September 1898, Sarah continued as licensee until she retired in 1915. Cocky lived in the hotel and for many years he ruled as 'Cock of the Bar'. He was extremely talkative and popular and known to many thousands of residents and visitors far and wide who became acquainted with his colourful character. Cocky had a cage on the hotel's front verandah where he could watch the passing parade, greeting old friends in his raucous and inimitable style. His repertoire included phrases appropriate to a public house like 'one at a time, gentlemen, please'. As he got older, Cocky started to lose his feathers. An oft-repeated saying quoted by his amused admirers was 'If I had another b…y feather I'd fly!' This usually came out of his mouth after a patron had given him a sip of beer. Attached to the cage was a collection box to raise funds for St George Hospital and so generous was the response that three beds were endowed to the hospital. Each bed bears a plaque acknowledging the feathered collector. So popular was Cocky Bennett that on his supposed birthday, the 1st September, thousands of cards flooded in to the hotel from his admirers. When Sarah Bennett left the Sea Breeze Hotel in 1915 she presented the bird to her nephew, Murdock Alexander Wagschall, then licensee of the Woolpack Hotel, George Street, Canterbury, where Cocky was installed in the bar. When Cocky died in 1916, at the grand old age of 119 years, his passing caused much lamentation. The Sydney Morning Herald printed his obituary on Saturday 27th May 1916 in which they called him 'The Venerable Cockatoo'. He maintained his 'patter' till the end. Wagschall announced his intention to have the famous old bird stuffed and mounted by Tost and Rohu, then well-known taxidermists. The granddaughter of Mr Wagschall donated the stuffed Cocky Bennett to Kogarah Historical Society, where he remains on exhibition at the Carss Cottage museum. This is just one of the remarkable stories we have uncovered as part of the Georges River Project. Thanks to Kogarah Historical Society for their research on Cocky Bennett, and thanks to the Department of Environment and Heritage for the Your Community Heritage grant that supported the Georges River project. Eighteen new stories on or around the Georges River have just been uploaded to the Dictionary and we'll explore a few more over the coming weeks. You can hear Lisa's segment with Mitch on 2SER Breakfast this morning here and read more about Cocky on the Dictionary here. Don't forget to listen in next Wednesday morning for more Sydney history at 8:20am, 107.3