10 AUSTRALIAN INVENTIONS AND INNOVATION THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

Australia experiences a surge in innovation and recently the Government released an innovation agenda, but few people know Australia has always been a place of innovation and Australian inventions have been at the forefront of industries for decades.

Here are some game-changers you might be using but have never realized Aussies invented them:

1. WIFI Internet

Reading this blog post you might as well be using WIFI Internet. Well, back in 1992 John O’Sullivan and the CSIRO developed WIFI technology. John and his colleagues were originally looking for black holes when they realized the potential of the technology.

2. Black Box flight recorder

In 1961, Dave Warren invented the Black Box – the device that records cockpit conversations and flight data. The durable boxes were designed to record the final moments before a plane crush, revealing what went wrong. Today, every commercial plane flies with this Aussie invention. The recorder sits in the back of the planes to reduce the chances of damage during a crash.

3. Inflatable escape slides and rafts

Because we are at flying chapter, let’s not forget that in 1965, Jack Grant of Qantas invented the inflatable escape slides and rafts, which are now mandatory safety equipment on board every aircraft. The slides can also be used as rafts if the aircraft lands in water.

4. Polymer banknotes

And an all time favorite subject: money. No, Aussies have not invented money, but they did invent the plastic banknotes. Plastic banknotes were developed in a combined effort from the Reserve Bank of Australia and CSIRO. The polymer material of the banknotes makes them very durable and hard to counterfeit. The first polymer banknotes circulated in Australia in 1988.

5. Google Maps

Gone are the days of paper maps and time wasted in designing a fast road trip. From 2003 to 2004, brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen developed the platform for Google Maps.

6. Electric drill

In 1889, Australian electrical engineer Arthur James Arnot patented the first electric drill. The invention was originally designed to drill rock and coal. No surprise there…

7. Tank

Lance de Mole, an Australian engineer, pitched the invention of an armored chain-rail vehicle capable of maneuvering across rough terrain to the British War Office in 1912. The first tank rolled out to the battlefield in 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.

8. Stainless Steel Braces

Let’s hope you are not wearing them, but if you do, you might want to give credit to the West Australian orthodontist Percy Begg, who started devising a new technique for repositioning teeth in the 1940s. When his use of stainless steel was introduced in 1956, he became an international sensation as the use of lightwire eliminated the need for head gear.

9. Ultrasound

If you have a baby, you might have went for an ultrasound to see the sex of the baby before birth. Well, you might want to give credit to the Australian researchers David Robinson and George Kossoff for developing the first ultrasound in 1961.

10. Dual Flush Toilette

And now, before we conclude, we might want to give credit to Bruce Thomson, the Aussie who combined the two Australian favorites – using the toilette and saving money.

The invention of the dual flush toilet system has been estimated to save households 320,000 liters of water every year.

These are just 10 game-changers but other inventions that could be mentioned here would be: the bionic ear, the electronic pace-maker, Frazier lenses, Gardasil and Cervarix cancer vaccines, plastic spectacle lenses and many others.

Come ooon Australia!!!