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Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

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Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

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aerial

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Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

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alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

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Alexandre, João (Dapin)

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

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Andaman Islands

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Andino, Kolohe

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angle

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Arabian Sea

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Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

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Aurness, Rolf

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Australia

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Azores

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Baja California

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Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

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Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

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Barbados

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Bay of Bengal

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Belgium

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Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Always-smiling surfer-model-actor-muse from Sydney, Australia; often seen in Australian surf magazines during the mid- and late 1960s, occasionally surfing but usually in a bikini; described by the UK's 

 as "one of the most beautiful women in Australia," and often referred to in her teens years as "Australia's Surf Queen."

Binning was born (1946) in Newcastle and began surfing in 1959, age 14, not long after her family moved to near the beach at Harbord. Her first surfboard—an all-balsa "malibu" with "Tanya" written in black script lettering near the nose—was shaped by new boyfriend and world-champion-to-be Midget Farrelly.  

, a 15-year-old Binning had a brief appearance as a bathing-suit-wearing surf lifesaver demonstrating mouth-to-mouth on a young man laying "unconscious" on the beach. That led to a Binning picking up small roles in a handful of other movies, including the 1964 thriller 

 and a British-made historical comedy called 

 which also came out in 1964. Her biggest part was in the 1965 comedy-musical 

 which also includes the movie debut of Olivia Newton-John. 

Binning was by that time the Aussie "It" girl, often featured in newspapers and magazines, usually with the least amount of clothes possible. "In this film I won't be wearing a bikini," she said of her role in 

. "I'll be wearing a short Roman-style tunic." Before the year was out, Binning, back in a bikini, was featured in vivid color on the front of 

 magazine—inside was a three-page article on "How to do the Stomp," featuring a Binning barefoot and pony-tailed, stomping on the beach. 

Binning remained an avid surfer, and in 1963 she was the only female author to write a chapter in A

ustralian Surfrider: the Complete Book on Board and Body Surfing

, which also featured chapters from Midget Farrelly, Bob Evans, Joe Larkin, Bob Pike, and other Aussie surf-world luminaries. The following year Binning was shown in a newsreel surfing the chilly waters of Fistral Beach, UK, while on a break from the 

 shoot. Back in Australia, she was featured alongside just-crowned Australian women's champion Phyllis O'Donell in a 

 featured titled "We're All Right, Jack!"—a spirited pro-woman article written by Helen Covell:

Tanya has been riding a surfboard for four years and has been a runner-up in several women’s surfboard riding championships. “It’s a grand exercise, and is excellent for the body," Tanya said. “It gives you muscles, but what sport doesn't?"

Tanya said Queensland's champion woman surfer Phyllis O'Donell was more than a match for many Sydney male surfers. 

By the end of the 1960s, Binning was living and traveling with surf photographer and filmmaker Alby Falzon. Binning herself was handy with a camera, and a spectacular image she took of George Greenough air-dropping into a thick wave at Lennox Head became one of the most-talked-about surf photos of 1968. Binning would later be seen, briefly, in Falzon's 1972 film 

, by which time she was also a mainstay in the Whale Beach "offices"—a room beneath the house Falzon and Binning were renting—of the newly-founded 

 magazine. The couple by this time were also raising a daughter.  

Binning continued to be one of the Australia's most-photographed women. An enormous photo of her in what was then the smallest imaginable bikini was featured in newspapers across the UK in 1969, under the headline: "Tanya in Trouble." The caption explained that Binning's suit "violates a new Australian law banning from public beaches bikinis less than two inches wide on the hips." That same year, a short AP story went out reporting that a group of university students in Ontario, Canada, had formed the "Tanya Binning Fan Club." 

Binning later moved to Queensland's Gold Coast, worked in holistic healing, then returned to her surf lifesaving roots by taking a job with a local rescue group. 

Kristine Binning, Tanya's younger sister by five years—Christine was a dark-haired regularfooter, Tanya was a blond (usually) goofyfooter—was also an excellent surfer. One newspaper reported in early 1964 that Christine was the #3 ranked surfer in the nation and Tanya was #4; both sisters were invited up from Sydney that year to judge the 1964 Queensland women's surfing championships. 

Binning, Tanya

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Features

The Sunday Joint

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Features

The Sunday Joint