When many of us hear the name Ben Hall, we think of the Escort gold robbery near Eugowra.
But although Hall was arrested in connection with the heist, he was never sent to trial for it.
He was just 27 - days shy of his birthday - when he was shot dead by troopers near Forbes.
And it's this that inspired the play, The Trial of Ben Hall, for the inaugural Ben Hall Festival in 1985.
The play was brought back to life by our local Heritage Advisory Committee with a cast of friends and volunteers on Friday night, 188 years on from Hall's birth and in the week of the 160th anniversary of his death.
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Our former Presbyterian Church Hall was transformed into an 1860s courtroom, packed for the occasion, and Director Monica Wren set the scene for the audience.
"Before Ben Hall took to the roads in 1862 he and his wife Bridget lived a settled life on a cattle run at Sandy Creek," she explained.
"Though arrested in connection with the great Escort coach robbery at Eugowra, Hall was never formally charged due to a lack of evidence, yet during his imprisonment his farm buildings were torched by the police and his cattle were left to perish in a locked yard."
When Hall's wife left him for a policeman, he took to the roads.
"Hall was consistently described as courteous towards women and was never known to have taken a life," Mrs Wren said.
"Yet Hall and his gang committed more than 100 robberies which resulted in the colonial government introducing the Felons Apprehension Act of 1865 which permitted any known bushranger to be shot and killed on sight.
"On 5 May 1865, aged 27, before this legislation had been formally enacted, Hall was fatally shot by police - a killing shrouded in controversy."
Was Hall victim or criminal?
And was he indeed responsible for the Escort gold heist?
The Trial of Ben Hall was conceived by former Forbes solicitor Dominic Williams and a jury of community and audience members was appointed for Friday night's event.
Some of the facts and characters presented in the play are based on actual hand written records used in the original trial of three other alleged robbers, presented in good fun by the cast and crew on the night.
"Not guilty" was the resounding verdict from Forbes.
Cr Michelle Herbert, chair of the Forbes Heritage Advisory Committee, thanked everyone who had participated in the play for an amazing job.
She also paid tribute to Heritage Advisory Committees past and present for their work to preserve our local heritage in all its forms.
"We have such a beautiful rich history and we really need to celebrate it," she said.
One of the great and ongoing projects is the Heritage Trail, which is now being digitised.
Heritage trail markers are on key sites around Forbes, and visitors can now scan a QR code and watch online presentations that bring together the stories, images and music of Forbes' past, prepared by Rob Willis OAM.
Go online to https://www.forbes.nsw.gov.au/community/heritage/heritage-trail
