William Hart-Smith

Who was William Hart-Smith?

William Hart-Smith was a New Zealand/Australian poet who was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. His family moved to New Zealand in 1924. He had about "seven years of formal schooling" in England, Scotland and New Zealand before getting work at 15. His first job was as a radio mechanic. In 1936, he emigrated to Australia working in commercial radio, and then the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He then did army service, returned to ABC, and resigned spending a year in the Northern Territory, becoming a free lance writer.

Smith was connected with the Jindyworobak Movement, and had some of his work, such as Columbus goes West published by them. However, he spent only a decade in Australia, returning to New Zealand in 1946. From 1948-1954, he taught in adult education.

He spent several years in Perth from the late 1960s, associating with younger poets including Andrew Lansdown, Hal Colebatch and Lee Knowles. He was a prolific writer of poetry into old age, though many of his later poems have never been collected. He also a distinguished conchologist, specialising in classifying cowrie shells. He said he had come to Perth from Sydney to find unpolluted water for shelling.