Built by Mort's Dock and Engineering Co Ltd, in Woolwich, she was a double-ended screw steamer with steel hull and timber superstructure.

However, a double-ended screw configuration was particularly difficult for the fine bows that Manly ferries required for both speed and heavy seas.

While Manly and Kuring-gai followed paddle steamer design with their bridges around the midships funnels, the "Binngarra-class" vessels would have their wheelhouses at either end of their sun decks.

Binngarra had her official trials on 26 October 1905 where she reached 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) and she entered service three days later on the 3 pm run from Circular Quay to Manly.

It is estimated that over her 24 years of ferry service, Binngarra completed close to 100,000 round trips to Manly and carried 30 million passengers.

Following her use in New Guinea as a cargo hulk for United States Navy during World War II, she was scuttled off Sydney on 11 December 1946.