Binny Lum

Binny Lum
Born	Rowena Bernice Lum (1915-02-02)2 February 1915 [1] Adelaide
Died	1 November 2012(2012-11-01) (aged 97) [1]
Occupation(s)	Radio Presenter, TV Host
Years active	1934-1984

Binny Lum is an Australian radio and TV host. ^[1]

Biography

Early life

Lum was born Rowena Bernice Lum in Adelaide in 1915 to a Chinese father and Australian mother. Due to her mixed heritage she was unable to go to school in Adelaide so was sent to Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne. ^[2] At the age of 16 she published a book called Poems. ^[3]

Career

Lum first appeared on radio on 3XY in a radio play continuing on as an actor, accompanist, scriptwriter and compere. She subsequently worked with 3AW, 3KZ and 3DB. In 1957 she hosted Channel Nine's Thursday at One with Binnie Lum, described as their first daytime television programme. ^[2] It was a live show aimed at women. ^[4] She continued in radio, interviewing many celebrites and in 1964 travelled abroad to conduct many more interviews, notably including The Beatles. ^{[2] [5]}

In 2013 a collection of over 100 of her interviews were added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Sounds of Australia collection. ^{[6] [7]}

References

1. Terry, Sharon (5 January 2013), "Star lifted profile of women in radio", The Sydney Morning Herald
2. "Binny Lum, Adelaide- born but barred because half Chinese from its colleges; becomes radio, TV star in Melbourne", Adelaide AZ
3. "Two talented sisters", The Mail, 12 May 1934
4. "Day-Time TV Starts Thursday", The Age, 1 June 1957
5. Lum, Binny (3 June 1964), "I was a lady Beatle", The Australian Women's Weekly
6. "A radio and TV broadcast pioneer", The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
7. Westwood, Matthew (27 November 2013), "Rare radio celebrity interviews saved", The Australian