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Australian 2009 International Future Energy
Challenge winners announced
White Hat congratulates the two Florida engineering
undergraduates who won the Australian 2009 International Future
Energy Challenge with their invention to maximize the energy output
of wind turbines.
Click here for details. |
Australian Invention wins International Award
White Hat congratulates the two Australians, Phil
Ashworth and Dr. Graham Robertson whose invention for baiting
commercial long lines underwater is expected to save many thousands
of seabirds each year from becoming accidently hooked and drowned by
the fishing activities of coastal tuna and swordfish vessels
worldwide. The World Wildlife Fund announced in Viga, Spain, that
the invention had won their 2009 award to reward innovations from a
field of 71 competitors from 27 countries. The award aims to
minimise ‘bycatch’ (unintended and wasted wildlife casualties of
commercial fishing) by rewarding and inspiring individuals and
companies who create what they adjudge to be best inventions that
achieve that purpose. The next award will be made in 2011. For more
information about Australian inventions go to
The White Hat
Guide to Australian Inventions. |
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Why are there so few Aboriginal Inventions? - the White Hat GuideWhen the first Aboriginal people arrived in Australia over 40,000 years ago they were among the most technologically advanced people in the world at the time having made several over the horizon sea voyages to reach here. Yet by the time of European contact Aboriginal people had made very few technological advances and were still using stone tools in a metal rich country. 
The $50 noteThere is a certain irony that one of Australia's great inventors appears on the $50 note, because David Unaipon (1872-1967) was never able to attract enough money to have his inventions developed. Unaipon was of the Ngarrindjeri people, and his Myths and Legends of Australian Aboriginals (1930) was the first published book by an Aboriginal author. He was active as a spokesman for Aboriginal people and his inventions included a multi-radial wheel, a centrifugal motor and an improved shearing handpiece.
At the first federal election in 1901, Unaipon was entitled to vote and become a member of parliament. Later changes in federal electoral law stripped him and other Aboriginal people of this right for many decades.
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Why was this? It certainly wasn't due to lack of intelligence. Aboriginal people had a rich culture, a complex social structure and advanced skills that allowed them to survive in hostile environments as well as the qualities we have mentioned on What Makes a good Australian Inventor. Indeed, many Aboriginal people placed among European implements quickly became very inventive (see for example David Unaipon in the box on the right). The complex question of what environmental conditions lead to technological advances and inventiveness in certain societies and why these conditions did not exist in Aboriginal Australia is examined in Jared Diamond's excellent book, Gun Germs and Steel (see below). Some notable Aboriginal inventions
- Stone tools - Aboriginal people are thought to be the first to use
ground edges on stone cutting tools and the first to use stone tools to
grind seeds.
- Boomerang - a throwing stick used for many purposes whose design
allows it to return to the (skilled) thrower.
- Woomera - a spear throwing holder that acts as an extension of the
arm thus allowing greater power and range for the spear. "Woomera"
was adopted as an appropriate name for the rocket launching range and
associated settlement in outback South Australia.
- Didgeridoo - a musical instrument whose sound is immediately
recognisable. It first appeared 2,000 or more years ago and at the time of
European arrival was used in the north western corner of Australia.
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Guns, Germs and Steel
by Jared Diamond
This important book written by a person
Professor Tim Flannery
has called "the greatest living scientist" attempts to analyse why
different societies and races developed in different ways. Why did
certain societies excel in technology, inventiveness and the arts
while others remained static for many centuries? What enabled certain
races to over-run others. This is no simplistic racial supremacy
polemic, but a serious scientific attempt to analyse what conditions
allow certain peoples to flourish and what conditions might cause them
to languish. Our rating - 5 hats
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Some useful resources on inventions and inventors:
Aboriginal Inventions
Alfred Nicholas
Australian Inventions
Australian Inventors
Commercial Refrigeration
Developing Inventions
Henry Sutton
James Harrison
John Furphy
Lord Howard Florey
Pro Hart
The Deakin T2 Car
Who is the Inventor?
William Ramsay
- You will find numbers of useful resources in our free newsletter -
Inventions & Innovations - the White Hat
guide
- The White Hat
listing of forthcoming events related to inventions and innovation
- The Australian Institute for Commercialisation
(AIC) is a leading service organisation helping innovators achieve
commercial success. Around Australia they help business, research
organisations and governments to convert their ideas into successful
outcomes.
- Scienceworks in Melbourne, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney
and the CSIRO Discovery Centre in Canberra provide
excellent resources in understanding Australian inventions and innovation.
- The ABC television series Landline regularly features Australian
innovation and inventions. Unlike many gee-whiz pop science programs, Landline
usually provides thorough and unhysterical coverage of Australian
breakthroughs relating to country Australia together with their commercial
ramifications. (You do need to watch the Sunday or Monday morning broadcast however, rather
than the shortened Monday evening version.) Unfortunately, the same is not true
of the current series on the
ABC called The New Inventors. Made in infotainment style it chooses
to present only a cursory investigation of the invention and skates over the
top of the issues involved in successfully bringing an invention to market.
Many of the products presented are not really inventions but design
improvements, but any exposure in the media for creativity in such areas is
to be welcomed and applauded.
- You will also find useful information at
Intellectual Property (IP) Australia,
The Inventors' Association
of Australia and The
Triton Foundation (founded by George Lewin, inventor of the Triton Work
Bench) and Innovic, a Victorian
organisation which provides advice on the bringing to market of innovations..
Related Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander resources:
Aboriginal Inventions
Albert Namatjira
Cathy Freeman
David Malouf
Didgeridoo
Eddie Mabo
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
Johnny Mullagh
Lin Onus
Lionel Rose
Lisa Gasteen
Lowitja O'Donoghue
Neville Bonner
Oodgeroo Noonuccal
P. L. Travers
Roy Chen
William Barak
William Barton
William Buckley
| Page last updated: | 30 September, 2009 | | URL:
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Australian Brothers create Google Wave
White Hat congratulates the Danish-Australian
brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen. Building on the work of the
Australian team that developed Google Maps, Lars and Jens
created an interface to which they initially gave the very Australian name of Walkabout. It has recently been launched
under the name Google Wave. For more information about
Australian inventions go to
The White Hat
Guide to Australian Inventions. |
SCIENCE NEWS
From the White Hat Melbourne Newsletter No.313 of
20th May 2009
Those of you interested in research,
science, mathematics, engineering or education may be forgiven if
you are not aware of a speech given recently which White Hat regards
as possibly one of the most significant in this area in the last 30
years. You are unlikely to be aware of it because the mainstream
Australian media gave it scant attention, and we have searched the
ABC news website in vain for any reference to it. If there are
science teachers or researchers out there feeling jaded or
undervalued, do yourself a favour. Put aside half an hour to listen
to
President Obama’s speech to the National Academy of Sciences.
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