Early years

Born in Colyton

Colyton, New South Wales

Colyton is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Colyton is located 43 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region....

, near Penrith

Penrith

Penrith may be:*Penrith, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia**Penrith Panthers, rugby league team**Penrith Stadium, home ground of the Penrith Panthers**Penrith Bears, ice-hockey team**City of Penrith, local government area...

, west of Sydney, the son of a hotel keeper, Smith was educated at public schools before gaining work with the railways. Following his marriage in 1879, Smith turned to auctioneering and grazing before following his brother, Thomas Richard, into Parliament.

State politics

Smith was first elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 in 1882, representing East Macquarie

Electoral district of East Macquarie

East Macquarie was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales between 1859 and 1894, in the Bathurst region. It was represented by two members, with voters casting two votes and the first two candidates being elected.-Members for East Macquarie:...

 until its abolition in 1894 and then ran for nearby Bathurst. Described as “tall, spare and bearded” but "not renowned for his oratory skills", the non-smoking teetotaller was made Minister for Mines by Henry Parkes

Henry Parkes

Sir Henry Parkes, GCMG was an Australian statesman, the "Father of Federation." As the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia, a precursor to the Federation of Australia, he was the most prominent of the Australian Founding Fathers.Parkes was described during his...

 in 1889 and the inaugural Minister for Agriculture in 1890, in which position he founded Hawkesbury Agricultural College

Hawkesbury Agricultural College

Hawkesbury Agricultural College was the first agricultural college of New South Wales, Australia. Established by Sydney Smith in Richmond, New South Wales in 1891, the college was incorporated into the University of Western Sydney in 1989....

. He also found the time to serve as Mayor of Leichardt Municipal Council from 1888–89.

Smith lost his seat by 103 votes at the 1898 New South Wales election when he ran on what many considered to be an anti-federalist stance and ran unsuccessfully against Edmund Barton

Edmund Barton

Sir Edmund Barton, GCMG, KC , Australian politician and judge, was the first Prime Minister of Australia and a founding justice of the High Court of Australia....

 for Hastings and Macleay

Electoral district of Hastings and Macleay

Hastings and Macleay was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1894 to 1920. It was created with the division of the two-member electorate of Hastings and Manning. In 1920 proportional representation was introduced and Hastings and Macleay...

 in a by-election later that same year before returning to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in a by-election for Canterbury

Electoral district of Canterbury

Canterbury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Linda Burney of the Australian Labor Party.-History:...

 on 9 June 1900. However, his victory (by five votes) was declared void and Smith was defeated at the subsequently reheld by-election on 28 July 1900.

Federal politics

While not a parliamentarian, Smith served on the executive of the Free Trade Party

Free Trade Party

The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states and renamed the Anti-Socialist Party in 1906, was an Australian political party, formally organised between 1889 and 1909...

 and began planning his campaign for a seat in the new federal parliament. He decided to contest Macquarie

Division of Macquarie

The Division of Macquarie is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for Lachlan Macquarie, who was Governor of New South Wales between 1810 and 1821...

 at the first federal election in 1901 but was given little chance of victory by observers and the local press, who pointed to his earlier anti-federal views and his recent electoral losses as proof that he exercised little influence amongst the electorate. Smith however gained the endorsement of the local branch of the influential Loyal Orange Lodge and the support of Free Trade Party leader George Reid

George Reid (Australian politician)

Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....

, who enjoyed a large personal support amongst voters.

Following his election, Smith served as a senior member of the Free Trade Party in opposition before helping to engineer the downfall of the Chris Watson

Chris Watson

John Christian Watson , commonly known as Chris Watson, Australian politician, was the third Prime Minister of Australia...

 government and its replacement by George Reid as Prime Minister. Widely considered Reid’s most faithful henchman during his time in parliament, Smith was made Postmaster-General by Reid but retired from political life following his defeat at the 1906 elections.

Smith died in Sydney on 21 February 1934, preceded by his wife and youngest son, killed during the Gallipoli

Battle of Gallipoli

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...

 landings. Smith’s eldest son, also named Sydney, served as President of the New South Wales Cricket Association

New South Wales Cricket Association

The New South Wales Cricket Association is a sporting club who administer cricket in New South Wales, based at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Their trading name is Cricket NSW....

from 1935–66.