Malcolm Smith: Vale
Vale: Malcom SMITH 1922—2017
Malcolm led a busy and exciting life. As a practising GP, anaesthetist, keen golfer, race horse owner, cricket lover, hobby farmer, body surfer and father of five, it's a wonder he had time to play any bridge at all let alone become a local champion of the game.
He was born in West Perth in 1922 and lived on Kings Park Road with his parents, Donald and Margery (Ginger), brother Brian and sister Robyn. Donald was a doctor and radiologist who had moved to Perth from Sydney. Ginger and Donald both served in WWI, he as a medic and she as a nurse.
Malcolm attended Hale School when it was in the old West Perth buildings (which still stand). After finishing school, he decided to study medicine. As Perth had no medical school at the time, he moved to Sydney and Saint Andrews College, to which he donated funds right up until the day he died.
After a year of study, the war began to heat up in the pacific and Malcolm enlisted in the Navy. In 1944 he volunteered for the Services Reconnaissance Department, a secret organisation that conducted covert operations, often behind enemy lines, against the Japanese. It was called the Z Special Unit, but commonly known as ‘Z-Force’, and was the forerunner of today’s Special Air Service Regiment. After training and serving in various positions – Fraser Island, Garden Island and on a number of naval vessels - Malcolm became a leading seaman and served on a small boat done up to look like a native fishing boat. Called the River Snake, and manned by a crew of eight, the boat patrolled in the Timor region, and later took ammunition, supplies and men up toward Borneo. One incident that Malcolm liked to recall was the time the River Snake nearly came to grief in the straits of Malacca. The engine mountings had sheered off after a storm, so they were set adrift for several days. When an Allied plane flew over them they had no way of signalling who they were (all Z Force operations were covert, and none of the sailors had uniforms). After desperately waving at the plane, 'some smart bugger' went into the toilet, grabbed a toilet roll and let out a great ribbon of loo paper into the air and sea. This was enough information for the pilot and within hours an Australian ship rescued them. He loved to tell how he'd been saved by a 'bog roll'.
When Malcolm returned to finish his medical degree, he was introduced to a friend of his sister, a pretty, intelligent and witty young woman called Ailsa Brockman who had come across to Sydney after completing an arts degree at UWA. The pair discovered they had many things in common. Both were quick thinkers, decisive, energetic and forthright with a desire to get things done. So they hitch-hiked up to Brisbane and got married after Malcolm bought a copper ring made from an old curtain ring! As most members will know, Ailsa too went on to become a state champion and a club President. Sadly, Ailsa passed away in 2014.
When Malcolm graduated in medicine, he and Ailsa moved to Perth to begin what became truly rich and fulfilling lives. He worked as a doctor in various hospitals, including the Wooraloo TB sanatorium. Later he set up a medical practice in North Perth with two other doctors. He quickly gained a reputation as a popular and caring GP. As many of his patients were working class immigrants from Italy and Greece, he was known to occasionally take payment in kind, some times in the form of crayfish!
He began playing bridge after a school friend introduced him to it, and originally played Culbertson – the system his parents taught him. Later he read about ACOL and decided to give it a go. When new or eastern states players ask why the ACOL system is so popular in Perth, some might say it's because it is a good aggressive system, or they might simply say it's what Peter Smith (Malcolm's son-in-law) teaches. The truth is that ACOL was introduced to WA by Malcolm in the late 1950s.
Malcolm was a foundation member of the WABC. He was in the state team 3 years in a row from 1966 to 1968, playing with Mike Hopper, and then again in 1976 playing with Hans Rosendorff. Malcolm played with some other good players from the WABC including Derek Pocock, Henry Christie and Brian O’Hara. In later years, he also played often with Ailsa, and sometimes his daughter, Kate.
The last time I played bridge with Dad at WABC, we sat at a table where a special light was set up for his ailing eyesight. I've never been a serious bridge player, but we won that day partly due to a small slam contract I put him into after he opened a weak two hearts bid. The look on his face when I bid 4NT was memorable! Fortunately, my well-shaped 22 count (including the Heart Ace) and two favourable minor suit finesses got him home! We were the only pair in the small slam. He made no comment about the fact that my bid was ridiculous.
Always a gentleman, and always generous and charming, he also loved a good party. At his 70th birthday party two bridge -playing friends (who'd rather not be named here) ordered a striptease act in the form of a pretty young nurse. Before discarding any of her items of clothing, the 'nurse' was bitten by the family dog Nellie, fortunately not a serious bite. Things were clearly not getting off to a good start. When she finally got down to her G string, sat on Malcolm's lap and guided his hands over her chest, Malcolm yelled out “No lumps” referring, of course, to his job as a doctor. Unfortunately, the stripper took this the wrong way and was later heard to be upset about this comment on her not-entirely substantial breasts. Oh well, you can't charm 'em all.
Long term family friend Geoff Holman likes to tell the story of when he and Ailsa and Malcolm were driving in NSW during a break in an interstate congress. “Malcolm was driving on the return to Canberra and stopped to refuel. Ailsa went for a leak; Malcolm kept talking to the pump attendant and anyone who'd listen; paid and drove off.” Geoff, who loves a good prank, just sat in the back seat fully aware that Malcolm had driven off without his own wife! “After a couple of miles I suggested to Malcolm that he might want to consider whether Ailsa might want a lift back to Canberra. Ailsa was standing on the forecourt preparing her words that are ever etched in my memory: “Malcolm, I know you have not heard anything I've said in the last twenty years, but I thought you could still see me!' ”
In the early 1960s Malcolm and Ailsa built a hut on Garden Island so the family could holiday there with friends who also had huts. When he wasn't sleeping, playing cards or talking, he spent a great deal of time fishing at the 'back beach'. He also loved body-surfing. His daughter Nicky recalls him “...taking us to Trigg beach when we were 6, 7, 8 and 11 and him pushing us onto waves since we couldn’t reach the bottom. When a really good set came, he couldn’t help himself taking the wave and told us to go out behind the break and dog paddle until he got back.”
In the 1980s Malcolm and Ailsa bought a beach house at Golden Bay with friends and fellow bridge players Les Calcraft and Haydn and Annie Lowe. Many a fun night was had at 'The Bay', either playing bridge, scrabble, charades or 'Trivial Disputes'.
On the WABC honour boards are the names of many people who have had fun times with Malcolm and Ailsa, not just at Golden Bay but at the club, at the family Christmas Eve parties, or at interstate congresses. Beyond the club are many people, some still with us, some who have passed away, who have enjoyed Malcolm's company, not just because he was witty and charming, but often because he (with Ailsa) took them in during difficult times, or simply because he welcomed them into his huge circle of friends and family. Not just a gentleman, a truly gentle man.
Published September 2017 Edition of Trumps Plus
