The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (673) Private Albert Frederick Binning 7th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Places
Accession Number AWM2016.2.138
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 17 May 2016
Access Open
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (673) Private Albert Frederick Binning 7th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

673 Private Albert Frederick Binning 7th Battalion, AIF
DOW 17 May 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 17 May 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Albert Frederick Binning.

Albert Binning was born on 17 December 1888 in Truro, South Australia, to Charles and Ellen Binning. He was the first of five children born to the couple.

Binning grew up in Truro and attended the local school, where he was also a member of the cadets. After leaving school he took up an apprenticeship as a shoeing smith in Truro. He was a noted by his mother as being a “splendid and fearless horseman and very brave”.

When the First World War broke out Binning enlisted for service in the AIF in Castlemaine, Victoria, on 20 August 1914, joining the newly raised 7th Battalion. After some initial training at Broadmeadows army camp, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne aboard the transport ship Hororata that October.

The battalion arrived in Egypt in early December and continued training in the desert for several months. In early April 1915 the 7th Battalion, as part of the 2nd Brigade, moved to Lemnos in preparation for the Gallipoli campaign.

Binning landed on Gallipoli on 25 April with the second wave of troops. Over the next week he was involved in establishing defensive positions and strengthening the Anzac beach head.

The 2nd Brigade was withdrawn from Anzac in early May and sent south to Cape Helles. Here its men took part in the disastrous Second Battle of Krithia. After suffering heavy casualties at the landing, the 7th Battalion was again hit hard. Among the casualties was Binning, who had received a bullet wound to one of his thighs.

He was evacuated to Alexandria and taken to the 1st Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis, where in the evening of 17 May his wound haemorrhaged and he died from blood loss. He was laid to rest in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery. He was 29 years old.

Private Binning’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Albert Frederick Binning, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section

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