David Smith was an Australian politician.

Born at a sheepstead near Bendigo

Bendigo, Victoria

Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...

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

Yarraville, Victoria

Yarraville is a suburb 6 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Yarraville had a population of 12,726....

 and Mirboo North. Around 1886 he married Agnes Elizabeth Reed, with whom he had two sons. In 1904 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 as the Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 member for Bendigo West

Electoral district of Bendigo West

Bendigo West is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. It is a 2,633 km² electorate based around the city of Bendigo and surrounding rural towns. It encompasses the localities of Bendigo City, California Gully, Castlemaine, Harcourt, Long Gully,...

. Appointed Minister without Portfolio in 1913, he was expelled from the Labor Party in 1914 after supporting the teaching of scripture lessons in state schools. In 1916 he joined the National Labor Party

National Labor Party

The National Labor Party was the name used by the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes for himself and his followers after he was expelled from the Australian Labor Party in November 1916 over his pro-conscription stance in relation to World War I...

 and was a Nationalist

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

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