David Smith (18 November 1861 – 24 January 1943) was an Australian politician. Born at Sheepshead Gully near

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

to miner James Smith and Agnes Thompson, he attended schools in Bendigo before becoming a blacksmith, spending periods in

Yarraville Yarraville is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. Yarraville recorded a population of 15,636 at the . Yarraville i ...

and

Mirboo North Mirboo North is a town in Victoria, Australia, located east of Melbourne, with a population of 2,263. It is in the South Gippsland Shire local government area. The town is at the start of the Grand Ridge Rail Trail, which travels for 13 ...

. Around 1886 he married Agnes Elizabeth Reed, with whom he had two sons, Sydney and Leslie. In 1904 he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member for

Bendigo West Bendigo West is an Victorian Legislative Assembly electoral districts, electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is a electorate, centred on th ...

. Appointed Minister without Portfolio in 1913, he was expelled from the Labor Party in 1914 after supporting the teaching of

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

lessons in state schools. In 1916 he joined the

National Labor Party The National Labor Party (NLP) was an Australian political party formed by Prime Minister Billy Hughes in November 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of ...

and was a

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

from 1917. Smith left the Assembly in 1924 and died in 1943.

References

, - 1861 births 1943 deaths Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian blacksmiths Australian people of Scottish descent Politicians from Bendigo Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria People from the Colony of Victoria {{Australia-Labor-Victoria-MP-stub