Top Thirteen Australian Box Office Hits of the Silent Era

 1) Story of the Kelly Gang (1907) - kicked off bushranger cycle (already going strong on stage)

2) The Man They Could Not Hang (1912) - bizarre hit, unbeatable for over a decade but then the sound version killed it

3) Lure of the Bush (1918) - Snowy Baker's second film bigger hit than the first encouraged boom in production

4) The Fatal Wedding (1911) - popular play launched Raymond Longford's career

5) The Sentimental Bloke (1919) - gave Longford his second wind, led to sequels and rip offs

6) Our Friends the Hayseeds (1917) - On Our Selection rip off which led to a bunch of sequels (franchise) and was successfully filmed as a sound movie, launched Beaumont Smith's career

7) It Is Never Too Late to Mend (1911) - adaptation of convict melodrama, launched WJ Lincoln as a director

8) Thunderbolt (1910) - adaptation of bushranger play, a big hit, launched John Gavin

9) Captain Midnight the Bush King (1910) - Charles Cozens Spencer gets into film in a big way

10) The Martydom of Edith Cavel (1915)

11) For the Term of His Natural LIfe (1928) - big hit but cost too much money

12) Sweet Nell of old Drury (1912) 

13) The Exploits of the Emden (1928)