Bernard Smith (art historian)

Following the death of his wife in 1989, he sold much of their art collection to establish the Kate Challis RAKA, one of the first prizes in the country for Indigenous artists and writers.

In 1952, Smith was awarded a research scholarship at the newly established Australian National University, where he completed a PhD.

A shorter version of his thesis "European Vision and the South Pacific" was published in 1950,[1] and released as a monograph in 1960 by Oxford University Press.

[citation needed] During this time, he became involved with the art workshop known as Tin Sheds, but clashed with co-founders Marr Grounds and Donald Brooks about its role.

He founded the annual Kate Challis RAKA Award, worth A$20,000, in honour of his first wife.