Smith was born on 25 February 1869 in Kingston, Victoria. He was the son of English immigrants Margaret Gomersall (née Charlesworth) and William John Smith. He was raised on his father's farming property and attended St Arnaud Grammar School in St Arnaud. He briefly studied engineering at the University of Melbourne and then began working for Goldsbrough Mort & Co in Melbourne.[1]
Smith supported the federation movement and was elected to the Senate at the inaugural 1901 federal election, winning the most votes of any candidate in Western Australia.[3] He joined the Free Trade Party but supported Chris Watson's Australian Labor Party (ALP) government in 1904. According to Brian De Garis, he sat "in opposition to the Barton and later Deakin governments, although he was sympathetic to much of the nation-building legislation, and indeed veered at times towards protectionist policies".[2]
Public service
He then became involved in Government Service in Papua, where in 1907 he was appointed Director of Agriculture and Mines. In 1910, Smith launched an expedition to explore the hinterland of the Gulf of Papua, seeking to cross from the Purari River to the Kikori River and eventually reach the Strickland River. He also sought to confirm reports from Donald Mackay of the existence of coal seams near Mount Murray.[4], He and his party became lost and were feared dead for several weeks. Rescued with much publicity, he was hailed as an explorer and in 1923 awarded the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.[5]
Staniforth Smith as a private soldier in 1916 (Illustrated War News)
During the First World War he served in the military from 1916 to 1918, for which he was awarded an MBE.[6] On his return to Australia he briefly served as acting Administrator of the Northern Territory for 1919–1921, before resuming his involvement with Papua as Commissioner for Crown Lands, Mines and Agriculture.
Later life
After retiring from government service in 1930, he took up farming at Boyup Brook in Western Australia, where he died in 1934.[1]
Ballard, Chris (2016). "Explorers & co. in interior New Guinea, 1872–1928"(PDF). In Shellam, Tiffany; Nugent, Maria; Konishi, Shino; Cadzow, Allison (eds.). Brokers and Boundaries: Colonial Exploration in Indigenous Territory. Australian National University Press. ISBN9781760460129.
Mettam, John (1998). "Miles Staniforth Cater Smith: the Territory's forgotten Administrator". Journal of Northern Territory History. 9: 91–101. doi:10.3316/ielapa.980909635 (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
Schieffelin, Edward L.; Crittenden, Robert (1991). Like People You See in a Dream: First Contact in Six Papuan Societies. Stanford University Press. ISBN9780804718998.
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