 In 1980 he presented "The Boyer Lectures" on the theme of "The Spectre of Trunganini" which was one of the first public condemnations of the Australian government's policy of removing Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, now known as The Stolen Generations.Smith was a recipient, Chevalier, of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.He founded the annual Kate Challis RAKA Award, worth , in honour of his first wife.