Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. as used by the British Army, an inhabitant of the Falkland Islands.

2006

D. Mitchell Black Swan Green 146: Our navy men thought the Falkland Islanders were a bunch of inbred bumblers [...] like Benny the dimwit handyman from Crossroads on TV. They even started calling the islanders ‘Bennies’.

2. thus, anyone seen as an unsophisicated peasant.

1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 186: I shot Benny three or four times and let him go down.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 benny adj. derog. (1) stupid or excessively thick person. Also said when someone does something regarded as stupid.

3. (Aus.) Tas. equivalent of bogan n. (1)

2003		Aus. Word Map 🌐 a bevan: He’s such a bennie .
2003		Aus. Word Map 🌐 I first came across the term in the UK whilst at school in the '70s. The usage derived from Bennie who was a character in a day-time soap called ‘Crossroads’. Bennie was the village idiot. The use seemed to apply to anyone considered to be intellectually disabled [...] I have lived in Tasmania for 14 years and recall hearing this word used in a similar context on a few ocassions, mainly in rural parts of the State.