Smith held office at the time of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis when, on 11 November 1975, Kerr dismissed the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam.
The dismissal was by then publicly known, and an angry crowd of Whitlam supporters had gathered, filling the steps and spilling over into the roadway and Parliament House itself.
The proclamation which you have just heard read by the Governor-General's official secretary was countersigned "Malcolm Fraser", who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Kerr's cur....[11]Smith served as Official Secretary until 1990, serving Sir Zelman Cowen, Sir Ninian Stephen, and Bill Hayden.
To conclude the lecture, Smith quoted the remarks of Sir Gerard Brennan, Chief Justice of Australia, on the oaths of allegiance and office: The first promise is a commitment of loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen, her heirs and successors according to law.
[14] After his retirement in 1992, Smith asserted in books and lectures that the governor-general carries out the duties of head of state in his or her own right and not as the Queen's representative or surrogate.
He was father to three sons, Michael (financial services, Sydney), Richard (Commonwealth public servant, Canberra), Phillip (strategic architect, ICT, Oslo, Norway).
[2][5] Smith was also appointed a Knight of the Order of St John and has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.