Speaking after testifying before the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry on Thursday afternoon, he said the Royal Commission had been a long time coming, and he was satisfied after he had testified.
"Fifty-one years in the making, I slept well for the first time last night, for the first time in my life."
Getting to that point had been difficult though, and Mr Smith said preparing to speak had been very scary and he had "wanted to bolt because I was getting so freaked out".
The wellness team had made him and other survivors giving testimony feel very welcome, and he was hopeful that the survivors of abuse would have justice for the ordeals they faced.
The commission has been holding hearings into abuse suffered at the boys school that was run by the Catholic religious order the Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God.
Mr Smith urged the Government to heed the recommendations of the commission once it had completed its work. One particular thing he would like to see was drop-in centres for abuse survivors where they could access medical and other services free of charge.
On Thursday afternoon, he spoke before the panel for more than an hour and spoke of the impact his abuse had upon him, including problems with alcohol and difficulty sleeping.
"My nightmares never stop ... I sometimes get that frightened I have to sleep with the light on."
Mr Smith also provided the commission with a 26-page written statement, which detailed abuse from both older boys at Maryland’s and from the Brothers who ran the institution.
He was placed at Maryland’s when he was 7 years old, and he gave evidence of a 15-year-old boy that raped him soon after he came to the school.
This abuse continued until a local farmhand knocked the older boy to the ground "and told him never to hurt little boys again or he will kill him".
He also outlined extensive abuse allegations against Brothers at the school, some of whose names he could no longer remember.
Specific allegations were laid against Brother Keane and Brother Rodger Maloney, both of whom were alleged to have raped the boy on multiple occasions, often giving him sweets before or after his ordeal.
While he now considers himself a Christian, he said his faith was severely shaken for a long time after his abuse.
"It took me years to believe that Jesus Christ was a good person and not a bad person, or that God was a good being or a bad being.
"It took that long to understand that Jesus Christ didn’t do this to me, man did this to me."
