Daryl Binning was born at North Fremantle in 1939. During primary school, using a small filmstrip projector given to him by his parents, he ran film shows at his home to raise money for the school Red Cross Appeal. He also began helping with menial tasks on Saturday mornings at the nearby Mayfair picture theatre in Bicton. While at Fremantle Boys High School he helped in the Mayfair’s bio-box on Friday and Saturday nights. During high school lunch breaks Daryl regularly visited his cousin, a projectionist at Hoyts and who he also assisted reconditioning 35mm projectors. This increased his knowledge of cinema equipment and operations. During his electrical apprenticeship he started making short films with his new 8mm movie camera and by the early 50s had begun assisting shooting local newsreels. Qualified as an electrician, he then became a full-time professional cinematographer specialising in documentaries and newsfilm for cinemas and eventually television. With his private pilot licence he covered stories for Movietone News and TV stations over the vast distances in Western Australia and to reach otherwise inaccessible locations in Papua and New Guinea. Here he was involved in establishing the government’s first film unit. Eventually Daryl set up his own company ‘Films New Guinea’ producing local newsreels, training films and international award-winning documentaries as well as undertaking many assignments for Walt Disney, the United Nations and various global clients.
In 1961 he was selected by the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne to work on Defence Department projects which involved missile test firings at Woomera. While employed by ATN Channel 7 in 1964 he covered major events in Sydney including the Beatles tour and Vietnam protest marches. There he joined the Australian Cinematographers Society and was later to gain accreditation, eventually being inducted into the ACS Hall of Fame. In the late 60s Daryl shot films for Cyril Cornish Theatre Ads, while at the same time working as a projectionist at the Lakeway Drive-in during the evenings. Assisted by his wife and daughters, Daryl began showing films at the Fremantle Town Hall in 1972 which continued for 13 years after the major chains vacated the city. He also established other film exhibition venues as well as sound recording studios and location technical services for the emerging local film production industry including manufacturing film lighting equipment and writing technical articles for international cinema journals. In 2017 the Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers honoured Daryl as the Western Australian Cinema Pioneer of the year. His family had met with Allan and Doll Jones and their family in 1967, becoming long-term friends. Daryl feels privileged that Wilma and he were involved in the cinema industry during an age when personal effort, expertise and ingenuity were the ingredients for putting on a great show. He believes future generations will never experience the satisfaction of true showmanship.