Captain George Augustus Bennett was an English military engineer of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Board of Ordnance. He served in Corfu (1828–1832), on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland (1832–1841), as Commanding Royal Engineer in New Zealand (1842–1845) and first president of the Auckland Mechanics' Institute (1842–1845). Whilst serving in Ireland he devised and implemented the system of contours for Ordnance Survey maps. In the Colony of New Zealand he designed the flagstaff blockhouse central to the Battle of Kororāreka (1845) and other military works.

The Battle of Kororāreka, or the Burning of Kororāreka, on 11 March 1845, was an engagement of the Flagstaff War in New Zealand. Following the establishment of British control of the islands, war broke out with a small group of the native population which resulted in the fall of the town of Kororāreka, present day Russell, to Māori warriors.