1838 Pre Paid Postage : Postmaster-General of New South Wales, James Raymond 1843 Grain Stripper : John Ridley and John Bull of South Australia 1856 Refrigerator: James Harrison - to cool beer of course 1858 Football: Tom Will and Henry Harrison wrote the first ten rules of Football, thus becoming the first people in the world to codify a kicking-ball game. These rules predate those of Rugby, Soccer and Gridiron. Football may have been inspired by the Aboriginal jumping/kicking game of Marn Grook. 1874 The underwater torpedo: Louis Brennan 1876 Stump jump plough: Robert and Clarence Bowyer Smith 1885 Telpahane: Henry Sutton Forerunner to television 1879 Refrigeration: Eugene Nicolle and Thomas Sutcliffe Mort shipboard refrigeration for meat transport. 1889 Electric Drill - Arthur James Arnot Melbourne 1894 First powered flight : Lawrence Hargrave discovered that curved surfaces lift more than flat ones. He subsequently built the world's first box-kite, hitched four together, added an engine and flew five metres. Hargrave corresponded freely with other aviation pioneers, including the Wright Brothers. But unlike the Americans who monopolised their ideas, Hargrave never patented his. Because it promised public access, Hargrave left all his research to the Munich Museum. 1897 Differential gears: David Shearer of South Australia 1900s: The 'Australian Crawl': For most of human history, humans didn't know how to swim effectively. In the 1900s, Australians invented the Australian Crawl that has since become known as 'overarm' or 'freestyle' swimming stroke. 1902 Notepad: For 500 years, paper had been supplied in loose sheets. J A Birchall decided that it would be a good idea to cut the sheets into half, back them with cardboard and glue them together at the top. 1903 Froth flotation process: The process of separating minerals from rock by flotation was developed by Charles Potter and Guillaume Delprat of New South Wales. 1906 Feature film: The world's first feature length film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, was a little over an hour long. 1906 Surf life-saving reel: designer Lester Ormsby 1907 First international ski tournament: won by Charles Menger (Denver, USA), second was R. Paterson (Australia) third was Earl Prince (England) 1910 Humespun process: Method of making concrete pipes 1912 The tank: A South Australian named Lance de Mole submitted a proposal, to the British War Office. The British war office liked the idea but then developed the tank themselves without paying royalties. 1913 Automatic totalisator: Sir George Julius. 1917 Aspro: George Nicholas 1922 Vegemite: Dr. Cyril P. Callister 1924 Car radio 1927 Speedo 1928 Flying Doctor Service: Reverend John Flynn 1930s Nuclear Fusion: Mark Oliphant. This fusion reaction formed the basis of a hydrogen bomb 1934 The utility vehicle (Ute) Ford Motor Company, Geelong Victoria 1940 Zinc Cream 1942 Transverse folding stroller: Designed by Harold Cornish 1944 Antibiotic penicillin: Produced by Howard Florey with help from an Englishman Ernst Chain 1945 Rotary clothes line: Lance Hill 1952 Victor mower: Mervyn Victor Richardson 1950s Distance Measuring Equipment: Every airliner in the world uses a piece of navigation equipment called DME. 1952 Atomic absorption spectrophotometer: Sir Alan Walsh CSIRO 1953 Solar hot water - Developed by R N Morse CSIRO 1953 Dominor Vobis, a really great bloke and forum addict: Mum and Dad 1957 Flame ionisation detector: Ian McWilliam 1958 Black box flight recorder: Dr David Warren Melbourne 1960 Plastic spectacle lenses: Scientific Optical Laboratories 1961 Ultrasound: David Robinson and George Kossoff 1965 Inflatable escape slide: Jack Grant Qantas. 1965 Wine cask: Thomas Angrove 1970 Variable rack and pinion steering: Arthur Bishop 1970 Staysharp knife: Wiltshire 1972 Orbital internal combustion engine: Ralph Sarich 1972 Instream analysis: 1979 Race-cam; Geoff Healey Seven Network 1979 Cochlear implant (Bionic ear): Professor Graeme Clark Melbourne 1982 The dual flush toilet Oh the dunny LOL This one saves the average house approx. 32000 litres of water per year. 1980 Wave-piercing catamarans: Phillip Hercus and Robert Clifford Tasmania 1983 Winged Keel: Ben Lexen and we won the America's cup so the yanks changed the rules. 1984 Frozen embryo baby: Melbourne 1984 Baby Safety Capsule 1986 Gene shears: Wayne Gerlach and Jim Haseloff CSIRO 1992 Multi-focal contact lens: Stephen Newman Queensland. 1992 Supersonic combustion: in an atmospheric flight test at Woomera on July 30, 2002. The craft reached speeds of more than Mach 8. 1993 Scramjet The University of Queensland reported for the first time the development of a scramjet that achieved more thrust than drag. Does that means it went forward LOL 1995 EXELGRAM The world's most sophisticated optical anti-counterfeiting technology was developed by the CSIRO 1995 Jindalee Radar System - The United States of America spent $11 billion developing an aeroplane that could not be detected by radar. Scientists at the CSIRO then concluded that if the plane could not be detected, perhaps the turbulance it makes passing through air could be. $1.5 million later, the Jindalee Radar system had transformed the stealth bomber into nothing more than an unusual looking aircraft. 1996 Hi-Speed Wi-Fi: During the 1990s, around 22 of the worlds computer firms were researching wi-fi as a way of connecting mobile phones and laptops to a wireless network. Wi-fi technology existed, but it was too slow to connect to the Internet. The CSIRO decided it could make use of the Fast Fourier Transform Chip, invented by Australian Dr John O Sullivan in the 1980s. Within six months they had invented Wi-fi. By 2000, the technology was being incorporated into computers and mobile phones the world over. 2002 Hyshot Scramjet Engine - a very high speed air-breathing jet engine currently in the testing stage developed by a team from the University of Queensland led by Professor Allan Paull. In June 2007, it was successfully used to boost a test vehicle to hypersonic speeds The Future ... who knows
I can not say for sure...but I might not even be here without the Aussies. My dad fought with them in WW2. He said they were totally nuts...but tough as nails. and they had beer!!!
That's us. We aren't really nuts though, the rest of the world are, because we are here and they are there.
I wouldn't bet on that, I was a bouncer at the Cross during the R&R days, they did a pretty good job of TRYING to fight when they were drunk
2012 A new world order: Dominor Vobis I have a couple of cartons, if one of you has a rifle, let's go take over the world. Don't forget to slip slop slap though, it gets pretty hot in some of them countries I would want you to get sun stroke.
HMMM I know, when I went to the states that was all I got. "Hey MATE, where's your knife" OR "Throw another shrimp on the BARBEE"
53 was a big year for Aus Yeah we are slacking off a bit eh. Hey Robbo, Johnno, Stevo, Davo, Freddo, Jacko, Mario ..... Mario? Oh yeah, Multiculturism! Back to work you slack Os ...
Spray on skin for burns cervical cancer vaccine Discovery of helicobacter pylori - the cause of stomach ulcers To add a couple more - mind you I think from memory the helicobacter discovery was much earlier but the researchers got the Nobel Prize for it in 2005
I'm sorry, US courts ruled that only the US contribution to the cervical cancer vaccine counted and thus awarded full patent rights to the US company even though the vast majority of the research was Australian. From what I've read the Australian company, due to American clout, has very little access to the world market.
and a few more (I hope I haven't duplicated any) 1855 The Australian Ballot (Secret Ballot) 1898 Teleprinter 1907 Xerography (Xerox Photocopying) 1925 The Record Changer 1928 Electronic Pacemaker 1930 Clapperboard by guess who, Frank Thring Sr 1930s Sister Elizabeth Kenny, a bush nurse working in country New South Wales and Queensland, developed a radically new and controversial method of treating children with polio. Her work went on to be internationally acclaimed and is regarded as providing important foundations to the discipline now known as physiotherapy. 1930s The Humidicrib 1938 Polocrosse 1939 Degaussing of ships 1943 Splayd 1945 Latex Gloves 1946 Castors 1948 Dr John Cade, a Melbourne psychiatrist, discovered the use of lithium carbonate (usually just referred to as lithium) in the treatment of bipolar and similar disorders. 1960 Salt water chlorination of domestic swimming pools 1960s The self constructing tower crane. It is this Australian designed crane that has been used for the construction of many of the world's tallest buildings in recent decades such as the Petronas Towers in Kula Lumpur and most of the tallest buildings in Dubai. 1975 Zip Instant Boiling Water Heater 1979 Digital sampler 1980 The National Integrity System, often called The Queensland Model, is acknowledged by just about every country around the world as well as by the United Nations and the World Bank as the benchmark approach for reducing corruption in public affairs. In the 1980s the Fitzgerald Inquiry in Queensland came up with a large number of recommendations for controlling corruption. New Zealand lawyer Jeremy Pope, founder of Transparency International, organised these recommendations into a 'system' which he called The National Integrity System. 1989 Polilight forensic lamp 1992 Spray-on skin 1996 Anti-flu Medication Relenza
Hey the yanks have been blatantly steeling our stuff for centuries, see what they did to our early movie industry, they came over, bought out our studios, closed them down and moved our actors, directors and cameramen to New York to start theirs. See also first powered flight, Wright Bros, no no no, read up on that.
You know we also invented the first feature film? Yep! We sure are an inventive lot!! Pity the New Inventors is now off the air though - I liked looking at all the new ideas people came up with
Funny ha ha I hope, not funny peculiar. Love your signature, funny how a few simple words can have such depth. There are people here who write dozens of pages yet say nothing.
Well, given that Reagan's Cabinet gave a full credit to a U.S. research team for the discovery of the HIV virus while totally ignoring the real French discoverers who naively sent the strain they discovered and isolated to their U.S. counterparts, it wouldn't surprise if such spectacle occurred again. Not that it happens all that often.
Hey, I've always enjoyed the down-to-Earth Aussy cinema. Let's see - Cry in the Dark, Eureka Stockade, Naked Country, the renowned TV series for its touching subject - Against the Wind. I can't admire enough Brian Brown, love all his movies.
I never quite got all the symbolism behind "The Last Wave" though. I wonder if the envocation of all those black rain scenes inspired and helped to give rise to the extreme environmental movement there?
