He attended public schools at Barwite and Mansfield, and worked as a bricklayer and then a railway employee in Seymour.
At a reception at ANZAC Rooms, Seymour to celebrate his appointment as A.N.A.
In his Chief President’s Address to Annual Conference at Lakes Entrance in 1959 he affirmed the restricted immigration policy and promoted the idea of an Australian film industry so that Australians would not have to view only pictures which “present a distorted view of a foreign way of life.” Arthur retired from the A.N.A.
[1] Smith actively served the community though being Chairman of the Seymour Memorial Hospital and Ambulance committee, a member of both the Seymour High School Council and State School committees; a Boy Scout commissioner for the Upper Murray region; a member Seymour Water Trust and Sewerage Authority; and Vice President of Upper Goulburn Weights and Measures Union; From 1948 to 1960 he served on Seymour Shire Council, of which he was president from 1955 to 1956.
In 1952 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as a Labor Party member for Bendigo Province, where he served until his defeat in 1964.