One of the finest motor sport photographers – and one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet – Bill Forsyth died in March after a short illness.
A native of Sydney’s north shore, his family had established a thriving real estate business. However, Bill had no interest in selling houses. His photographic career began in 1960, when he joined the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine as a dark room assistant. By the mid-60’s he was working for Montgomery Dunn, a Sydney portrait studio, as both a darkroom technician and photographer. He was still there in 1968 when Dunns was gifted a contract by Castrol to cover the Australian leg of the London-Sydney Marathon – it helped that the studio owner’s father was the Marketing Director at Castrol.
When Dunns went belly-up in the early ‘70s, Bill freelanced for a short while before a move to the K.G. Murray group, publisher of Wheels, Sports Car World and House and Garden magazines, in the mid-1970s.
He also teamed up with Ray Berghouse to create Motoring Photographics. After he left Murrays he started his own show from his Cammeray home in 1977. Bill and his camera bag went to every motor sport event virtually every weekend. As well as the motor racing, weekday assignments involved various advertising agencies, vehicle launches and road tests. He also covered the London to Sydney marathons, the Wynns Safaris and frequently journeyed to Europe and Asia – working in Japan for nearly a year.
In 1990 he moved down to Hobart to live and work and became even more famous with his photography of the Targa Tasmania. However, this didn’t go entirely to plan so Bill returned to Sydney, where things got off to a bad start when all his camera gear was stolen from his car.
Despite his delicate financial state, Bill regarded this low act as only a temporary setback and was soon back behind the viewfinder. He then teamed up with the late Ray Ryan to found Vintage Motocross Magazine (VMX) and they travelled far and wide to get the shots. This often involved trips to the UK and USA to photograph iconic dirt bikes and interview famous riders. When Old Bikes Australia (OBA) began in 2006, Bill immediately offered his services. As well as attending local events like the Broadfoot Bonanza, he also covered the Goodwood Revival meetings.
Bill always had a smile and was happiest when chatting to people involved in his sport – both famous and unknown – and capturing uncountable numbers of fabulous images during his long career behind the lens, many of which appeared in the pages of VMX and OBA, along with many motor racing publications in Australia.
In recent years Bill moved to Toowoomba to be near his extended family. In Sydney, his close friend Ray Berghouse (the original co-publisher of OBA) made sure Bill was always comfortable and well looked after right to the end.
