William Alfred Gibson (1869 – 6 October 1929) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

film producer and exhibitor best known for his collaboration with Millard Johnson. He was one of the producers of ''

The Story of the Kelly Gang ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'' is a 1906 Australian bushranger film that traces the exploits of 19th-century bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang. It was directed by Charles Tait and shot in and around the city of Melbourne. The origin ...

'' (1906) and helped establish

Amalgamated Pictures Amalgamated Pictures was a film exchange company in Australia. For a time it was also a short-lived Australian film production company. Although none of its output has survived, it has been written that "judging by subjects chosen, the average l ...

. Gibson originally worked as a chemist for William Johnson and supplied chemicals to early film exhibitors. He went into exhibition himself with Johnson's son Millard, later expanding into film processing and photography. He and Johnson helped produce ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'' (1906), arguably the world's first feature film. This was made with the Tait brothers with whom Gibson and Johnson formed Amalgamated Pictures. This later merged with other companies to become

Australasian Films Australasian Films, full name Union Theatres and Australasian Films, was an Australian film distribution and production company formed in 1913 that was wound up in the 1930s to merge into Greater Union. The Union Theatres and Australasian Films d ...

and Union Theatres, the famous " Combine" which dominated Australian distribution and exhibition in the 1920s; Gibson served as its managing director.

Honour

He was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

on 19 October 1920.William Alfred Gibson OBE record
/ref>

References

External links

at Brighton Cemetery
William Gibson
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

1900s in Australian cinema 1910s in Australian cinema Australian film producers 1929 deaths 1869 births Officers of the Order of the British Empire {{film-producer-stub