Smith, William A. (William Aloysius), 1929-

William Smith was about 21 years old when he travelled to Brisbane aboard the "Young Australia" in 1864. Smith and his companion Richard Harding Watt were obviously young, well-educated, and quite religious friends from Manchester looking forward to a new life in Queensland. The two berthed together, after getting rid of a troublesome companion, and did most things together especially producing the middle cabin journal "Etches and Sketches" for circulation in rivalry with the salooners' "Illustrated Times." The text of both journals, minus illustrations due to cost, was printed in Brisbane by William Fairfax in 1864 as "Sketches at Sea" and "Young Australia Times." Smith says in his diary that he wrote almost all the text, although he made it look like a large staff was involved.

After arriving in Brisbane, Smith and his travelling companion from Manchester, Richard Harding Watt, who had provided the sketches for "Etches and Sketches," lodged together at a boarding-house in Spring Hill before going their separate ways. It seems Smith worked as a professional photographer for The American Glace Photographic Co. in Charters Towers, Gympie, and Maryborough. Prior to this he had a photographic studio in Ipswich with Henry Kerr, a fellow immigrant on the "Young Australia." Richard Watt's sketchbooks contain a sketch of this studio completed in 1864. Information sourced from: Barrie, S. 1987, Queenslanders behind the camera: professional photographers in Queensland, 1849 to 1920, v. 4. Morningside, Qld. Biographical history compiled with the assistance of Dr Rod Fisher, Research Consultant, University of Queensland, Department of History.