British-born Bruce Smith was sent back to England from Australia between 1862 and 1864 to begin his education. He then completed his early schooling at Wesley College, Melbourne, before working in commerce. Smith matriculated at the University of Melbourne in 1872, then continued studying Law in London, being called to the Bar there in 1877. He moved between Australia and England regularly throughout his working life.
In Australia Smith became a barrister and a Member of the Parliament of New South Wales when it was still a self-governing colony prior to becoming one of the states in the federal Commonwealth of Australia (1901). He went on to have a parliamentary career after Federation representing the Parkes, New South Wales, electorate.
Smith contributed to many Australian journals, including the Victorian Review, Melbourne Review, Centennial Magazine, Sydney Quarterly Magazine and the Australian Review of Reviews. He edited United Australia, the journal of the United Federal Executive, from 1900 to 1902. He is also the author of numerous non-fiction works, including Liberty and Liberalism: A Protest against the Growing Tendency toward Undue Interference by the State, with Individual Liberty, Private Enterprise and the Rights of Property (1887), Strikes and Their Cure (1888), Our Commonwealth (1904), Paralysis of a Nation (1914) and Truisms of Statecraft (1921).
