1926-2014

Brian St Alban Smith was born in Singapore in 1926. During the closing stages of World War II, as a very young man, he served in the RAAF as an air-gunner, following this service with a stint in the British Army in India before that country’s independence. He then served six years in the Royal Australian Engineers. Married in Victoria in 1948 to Greta, they had 3 children. He was unwell for a lengthy period in the 1960s, suffering bipolar disorder (manic depression). He settled to live as a writer and artist in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria, until his death in 2014 at age 88 years.

He published a book of his poetry, ‘Brushstrokes from the Hills’, in 1981. Some of his poems are reproduced here, illustrating his great talent and meticulous observation.