Agent TypePersonActivities & OccupationsAcademics - PsychiatryGenderMaleHistoryBorn in 1926 Keith McLeod Benn graduated from The University of Melbourne as a General Practitioner (GP) and surgeon. He then completed an internship at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and a Post Graduate degree in Psychiatry. His first official appointment was with the Cairns Base Hospital, and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. He later ran a free medical clinic in Tasmania before taking positions with Victorian Mental Health institutions including Ararat Asylum (Aradale Mental Hospital), Larundel Psychiatric Hospital, Mont Park Asylum, and Royal Park. Benn also held the esteemed position of Chief Medical Officer of Victorian Mental Health, and was Superintendent of the Footscray Psychiatric Clinic, as well as the Travancore Training Centre; where he was one of the pioneers in establishing treatment programmes for autistic children. He helped to form the Australian Doctors Reform Society (1973), was involved with Occupational Health & Safety, and instrumental in the establishment of the Mental Health Review Board (1987); on which he served for ten years. During his life time Benn also had strong social and political beliefs, which led him to join the Australian Communist Party at just sixteen years of age. He later became an active member of both the Melbourne University Labor Club, and the Australian Labor Party. Keith Benn was a talented photographer. He died in 2006.
Selected reference: Knorr, L. 2006. ‘Renaissance man led the way in mental health’. The Age.
![[2013.0069] PROFESSIONAL AND POLITICAL PAPERS OF KEITH BENN](/img/placeholder.gif?1768336552 "[2013.0069] PROFESSIONAL AND POLITICAL PAPERS OF KEITH BENN")