Dick Smith AC

Readers note: This is an excerpt from the 200 Treasures exhibition catalogue, developed in 2017. This content was written as a brief biography on why this person was included in the exhibition.

Richard ‘Dick’ Smith, entrepreneur and adventurer, was born in Sydney in 1944. He grew up surrounded by bushland on Sydney’s Middle Harbour and there developed a love of nature. He credits the Boy Scouts, which he joined at age eight, with teaching him ‘responsible risk-taking’ and leadership skills that he would deploy in later life.

In the late 1960s, he opened Dick Smith Electronics and built it into a successful chain, selling it in the 1980s. Smith appeared in his own television advertisements, was known as ‘the electronic wizard’ and became a household name. In 1982, Smith bought a Bell JetRanger helicopter (his second) and installed a long-range fuel tank. He then set out to fly solo around the world and overcame loneliness, storms, bullets from unseen hunters in Iceland, and his first-ever shipboard landing, successfully completing the epic 55,000-kilometre flight in 1983. He launched Australian Geographic magazine and Dick Smith’s Journal of Adventure and Discovery in 1985, and advanced a patriotic message in his publications, sponsoring adventure and inspiring children to learn about nature. Smith’s numerous feats have included flying solo to the North Pole in 1987, and in 1988–89, he and co-pilot Giles Kershaw flew pole to pole in a de Havilland Twin Otter aircraft.

The 1990s saw Smith venturing into balloon travel, flying across Australia in 1993 and then across the Tasman Sea in 2000. His patriotism led him to found Dick Smith Foods, a company that champions Australian-made products. Smith has also lent his support to an array of causes, and launched a political party in 2015, although he had no ambitions to stand for elected office himself. Smith has received numerous accolades recognising his achievements and community service.