Essendon Gazette 5 August 1915 

Mr.W. Kennedy Smith, BA., sailed a fortnight ago for the front, as a Lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps.  Lieut. Smith has been a resident of the district for practically the whole of his  life, and attended the local State schools in his earlier days. He later attended the Scotch College, and graduated at the University of Melbourne. Lieut. Smith is likely  to be successful in his present capacity at the front, as he has natural ability, and is well liked wherever he goes. He is the youngest member in our State Parliament, having been elected  to represent the constituency of Dundas in the Western District.  Mr. Smith has  appointed a secretary to look after his constituents' interest while he is absent serving his King and   Country.  We might mention that this is the third occasion on which Mr. Smith has tried to get away with the Expeditionary Force. On the First occasion (and also on a later occasion) he offered himself as a private, but was rejected through a physical defect; but on the recent modification of the tests he passed.

Essendon Gazette 22 July 1915

TOWN HALL RECRUITING
(To the Editor.)
Sir,-—Would you be kind enough to allow me space for a word on the above subject. I was very glad to  see the enthusiasm that prevailed, and the courage in the cause of freedom and right, but as this war has cost an immense sum of money and is going to cost a lot more, I think it should be conducted without extravagance. Is it a fair thing to the public who has to pay for all this, that a member of Parliament should take his pay while on service, and his soldier's  pay as well, and that not the pay of a common private but a lieutenant. I would also like to ask why it only takes a week or so to make a lieutenant in one case and months or years in others. Surely it is a splendid thing to be the protege of certain political gentlemen. Very many of us would get up a lot of military courage on a salary of six pounds per week for doing nothing and doing it very well——military pay included. Not having to shoulder the rifle, either.
—- Yours, etc,.
MOCK HEROISM
19th July, 1915.

On Monday the youngest son of Mr. J. Currie Smith, a well-known resident of this city, went into camp at Broadmeadows. On the previous Thursday the A.I.F. man's elder brother was, for the fourth time, rejected by the medical officer in Melbourne for active service.

ROLL OF HONOUR. (1918, August 15). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 2 Edition: Morning. Retrieved August 10, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74606893

SMITH, WILLIAM KENNEDY, 1906

SC; Ormond; BA; MLA.
14.7.15; sailed 17.7.15, Lieut AAMC;  while at Harefield Hospital as QM; to 57th Btn 9.12.16; wounded 25.9.17.  Appointment terminated 31.7.18; Ass't Censor Melbourne September 1918.

Record of Active Service of Teachers, Graduates, Undergraduates, Officers and Servants in the European War, 1914-1919, H W Allan (ed).   University of Melbourne, [1926] Also known as  Record of active service, 1914-1918.