[2] Thring worked as a conjurer in the outback and as a bootmaker in Gawler, South Australia, as well as starting Biograph Pictures in Tasmania.

He thrived in the cinema trade and opened the Paramount Theatre in 1915 and became managing director of J. C. Williamson's Films in 1918, which eventually merged to become Hoyts in 1926.

Over the next five years, Efftee produced nine features, over 80 shorts and several stage productions, including the Australian musicals Collits' Inn and The Cedar Tree.

[8] Thring visited Britain in 1932–33, where he sold Efftee's entire output: seven features, nine shorts and a series about the Great Barrier Reef made with Noel Monkman.

In 1934, he suspended Efftee's operations, announcing that resumption would depend upon the introduction of an effective quota system in Victoria.

He was survived by a daughter from his first marriage to Grace Wight (Viola, known as Lola; 1911–71), his second wife, Olive, née Kreitmayer whom he had married on 25 April 1921,[17] and their then 10-year-old son, the future actor Frank Thring.