Gregory Peel Smith was born in Australia, and exposed to violence and alcoholism in his childhood, along with his siblings. After a period in care he and his siblings returned home, and like many children from such circumstances he became an alcoholic, unable to relate to others intimately or hold down a job, and retreated to the bush where he lived rough for many years. Eventually, after a period of psychosis and an epiphany he returned to civilisation, and commenced a course of study, culminating in successfully completing a PhD in his late 50s. His research was on the experience of some of the 500,000 adults who had experienced state care in Australia.