Henry Albert ('Bert') Forsyth, known professionally as H. A. Forsyth (and informally as Bert Forsyth), was a pioneer of Australian film production during the silent era. From about 1907 to 1909 Forsyth worked as a travelling picture showman, screening the film Robbery Under Arms in Australian country towns. In 1910 his company, Southern Cross Motion Pictures, produced and released two successful motion pictures, Thunderbolt and Moonlite, based on incidents in the careers of the bushrangers Frederick Ward and Andrew Scott. For these projects Forsyth worked with Jack Gavin, who directed both films and acted in the lead roles. In January 1913 the New South Wales Government banned Forsyth's bushranger films (as part of a wider ban on the bushranging genre). At various stages in his career Bert Forsyth also managed theatres that screened motion pictures. Biography Early years Henry Albert Forsyth was born on 8 October 1872 at Bushman's Lead in the Central West of New South Wales (renamed Parkes in 1873), the son of Allen Forsyth and Sarah LaFranchi (née Standen). Before the birth of her son Sarah had been married to Antonio ('Peter') LaFranchi, so Bert had six older half-sisters. LaFranchi had abandoned his family in about 1868 when he travelled to the gold-fields near Warwick in Queensland to attend to the affairs of his brother (who died in August that year). During LaFranchi's absence Sarah formed a relationship with Allen Forsyth, with whom she had two sons, Allen Edgar ('Eddie') born in 1871 and Henry Albert ('Bert') born the following year. By about 1873 Peter LaFranchi had returned to the district and he and Sarah resumed their relationship, with Bert and his brother being raised within the LaFranchi household at Grenfell. Sarah and Peter LaFranchi had three more daughters, but the marriage finally broke down by about 1880. Sarah subsequently formed a relationship with Lars Madsen by whom she had four sons, born from 1881 to 1888 at Cudgellico and Young. Bert Forsyth's interest in bushrangers probably began as a childhood fascination. The goldfields of the Forbes, Grenfell and Young districts had been a focus of outlaw activity only a decade before his birth. The famous bushranger Ben Hall was shot dead in May 1865, in a police ambush near Billabong Creek, south-west of Parkes. In his formative years young Bert Forsyth would have been aware of stories of famous bushrangers who had operated in the district,