innovations & inventionsof this great nation’s greatest

It’s Australia Day...SO TO CELEBRATE, WE LOOK AT 15

THE NOTEPADLaunceston, Tasmania (1902)

By the year 1902, JA Birchall had had enough of loose-leaf note taking. It was messy, difficult to organise, and on windy days brought nothing more than complete disaster. So he bound sheets together, backed them with firm cardboard and glued them at the top.

Dear notepad,We’re sorry to have taken you for granted for so many years. From this day forth, we will always stop to marvel at your beautiful simplicity. Promise.

Sincerely,The world’s writers

FIRST FEATURE LENGTH FILMMelbourne, Victoria (1906)

What is now one of the world’s most cherished forms of storytelling began with our nation’s most notorious criminals.

Written and directed by Charles Tait and set over 1200 metres of film reel, The Story of the Kelly Gang chronicles the life of bushranger Ned Kelly. The film premiered on Australia Day, 1906.

Image courtesy of: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/bushrangers/images/7883510/title/story-kelly-gang-photo

ZINC CREAMAdelaide, South Australia (1940)

Where would Aussie noses be without this oxidised imperative? Somewhere between Rudolph the reindeer and Kerry Packer, we suspect.

Thanks to the Fauldings pharmaceutical company, beachgoers and cricket fanatics alike can breathe easy knowing that their schnoz is sun-safe (and colourful too, if that’s their thing).

Image courtesy of: http://blog.the-dot.co.uk/tag/vintage/

THE ESKYSydney, New South Wales (1952)

It’s a brand name synonymous with Australia Day; a title so infectious that it’s used across the globe to describe portable boxes that keep things really, really cool.

The Esky is an Australian institution first marketed by the Sydney-based refrigeration company Malley’s.

We may not have invented the portable ice chest (that was Illinois’ Richard C. Laramay in 1951), but the Esky brand is recognised as the world’s first official portable cooler.

Image courtesy of: http://www.atvwa.com/

Esky racing: just another ingenious Australian invention

THE AUSTRALIAN CRAWLSydney, New South Wales (early 1900s)

When Richard Cavill dove off the blocks and into the pool at an International Championship race in 1902, he not only set a new world record (100 yards in 58.4 seconds) – he also sparked a swimming revolution.

His front stroke, later dubbed The Australian Crawl, was an improvement on the British-made Trudgen stroke and was inspired by the form of a young Solomon Islander Alick Wickham who was living in Sydney at the time.

Image courtesy of: http://www.break.com/pictures/koala-leap-2329489

THE HILLS HOISTAdelaide, South Australia (1945)

It’s not just a place to dry your clothes. It’s a pastime reminiscent of childhood: dizziness, callouses, parental anguish and sometimes (if you were unlucky) a stint in the naughty corner.

Lance Hill began manufacturing his rotary clothes hoist – the Hills Hoist – in his backyard in 1945. His innovative design has since become a well-used symbol of Australian suburbia.

Image courtesy of: http://thehoopla.com.au/swinging-hills-hoist-2/

THE BLACK BOX IN-FLIGHT RECORDERMelbourne, Victoria (1956)

It may have a thoroughly deceptive title, but the black box in-flight recorder represents a crucial development in aviation technology.

The brain-child of Australian scientist Dr David Warren, the black box not only records the conversations that take place within a plane’s cockpit but also stores the output data from the plane’s flight instruments.

The box itself is built to withstand the impact of a crash so that air-crash investigators can identify what went wrong, educate pilots and, ultimately, save lives.

Image courtesy of: http://www.mactalk.com.au/content/rise-black-box-since-when-did-technology-get-so-hard-use250313-2995/

THE WINE CASKRenmark, South Australia (1966)

Thomas Angove had a problem: he needed to find a way to sell his cheaper red wines in bulk. Large bottles were troublesome; once opened, air exposure would cause the wine to take a turn for the worst – and fast!

His solution was a gallon-sized resealable polyethylene bag placed in a box and stored in the fridge (or Esky!), and that was that. Genius!

Image courtesy of: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/australia_innovates/?behaviour=view_article&Section_id=1000&article_id=10021

THE BIONIC EARMelbourne, Victoria (1978)

It was a life lived in the company of his severely deaf father that inspired Professor Graeme Clark to develop the bionic ear.

In 1978, after 11 years of hard-slogged research, Clark and his team successfully performed the world’s first cochlear implant operation at Melbourne’s Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.

His invention has since been implanted in almost 325,000 people worldwide.

Image courtesy of: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/photos-e6frg6n6-1225745294969?page=5

Professor Graeme Clark & his Bionic Ear

SPRAY ON SKINPerth, Western Australia (1990)

Developed by Dr Fiona Wood, ReCell (otherwise known as Spray-On-Skin) became an internationally renowned and celebrated innovation in 2002 after 28 victims of the tragic Bali Bombings were flown to Perth to receive burns treatment.

An aerosol delivery system literally sprays skin cells harvested from the normal cells of a patient onto the wounded area, a process that not only spares burn victims from painful skin grafts but also greatly reduces permanent scarring.

Dr Wood was awarded Australian of the Year in 2005 for her innovative and life-altering efforts.

Image courtesy of: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/smart-country-sells-itself-short-20121109-2939k.html

Wi-FiSydney, New South Wales (1990s)

Wireless networks had been kicking around since the 70s, but they proved far too slow for the overborne state of the world’s internet usage.

That’s why Dr John O’Sullivan and his team at the CSIRO created Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 (that’s the technical term for Internet Wi-Fi).

THE UNDERWATER PCTownsville, Queensland (1993)

For the scuba-diving tech-head who has everything, the WetPC helps marine scientists and other water-based workers record data, consult maps, count fish and diagnose faulty equipment.

We wonder if its creator, marine technologist Bruce Macdonald, installed Facebook on his?

THE DUAL-FLUSH TOILETNorwood, South Australia (1980)

While working for Caroma, Bruce Thompson took the distinctively Aussie concept of saving water to a whole other level. He refurbished the standard porcelain throne, adding another button to give potty potentates the option of a half or a full flush.

Image courtesy of Newspix/Rex Features: http://english.caijing.com.cn/2012-08-22/112074400.html

In 2012, 12 protestors sat on an Adelaide beach, calling for better amenities for beachgoers.

VEGEMITEMelbourne, Victoria (1922)

Love it or hate it, this salty spread is an Aussie icon.

Made from brewers yeast, Vegemite was created by famed food technologist Dr Cyril P Callister to compete with the widely used, loved and established English spread Marmite. In 1928, poor sales of Vegemite resulted in its name being changed to ‘Parwill’ - “If Marmite...then Parwill” - a clever marketing strategy that remained largely unsucsessful, so the original name was quickly reinstated.

Regardless of its rocky beginnings, the Vegemite brand holds a special place in Australia’s history.

Image courtesy of: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/health/galleries/photo/-/9981137/what-your-food-cravings-mean/9981138/

THE UTEGeelong, Victoria (1934)

Without it, the nation’s farmers, tradies, and friends of friends who need it to move their new lounge furniture, would be in utter shambles.

Designed by Lewis Brandt at the Ford Motor Company, the ute was conceived after a farmer wrote to the boss of Ford Australia in 1932 to ask: ‘Please make a two-in-one car and truck, something I can go to church in on Sunday, and carry the pigs to market on Monday’.

You beautey!

Image courtesy of: http://bussorah.fhost.com.au/busfeb13_files/142534-toy-ute.jpg

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