Famous Australian Ideas and Innovations

You're going to be very surprised at some of the great inventions Australians have been responsible for...

Heck, Aussie are even responsible for turning dishwater and beer into electricity, AND running cars on nothing but water!

This page presents a variety of those for your perusal - please REFRESH to see a different selection of ten Aussie innovations.

To find out more, can I suggest you visit
The Power House Museum and Questacon

• In 1956 Jack Grant of QANTAS invented the inflatable aircraft escape slide which could also be used as a raft on water. Such slides are now standard safety equipment worldwide.
  
  
• George Nicholas and Henry Woolf Smith produced a high-grade aspirin product in Melbourne called Aspro in 1915. It later took over the international market.
  
  
• In 1983, Australia II won the America's Cup in part due to the revolutionary winged keel designed by Ben Lexcen.
  
  
• Racecam - the lightweight, fixed camera first used in car racing - was developed by Geoff Healey in 1979 and has changed sports broadcasting worldwide.
  
  
• Modems the size of a shoebox led the NetComm company to develop in 1985 the Smart Modem - a string of Australian-designed, faster and smaller modems with better features.
  
  
• Dr Arthur Farnworth of the CSIRO added a special resin to wool fibres in 1957 to change their chemical structure to create Permanent Crease Trousers.
  
  
• Bruce Macdonald at the Australian Institute of Marine Science developed the world's first underwater computer in 1993
  
  
• The Victa Mower, a revolutionary two-stroke petrol lawnmower with rotary blades was much easier to use than its older push/pull cousins. It was invented in 1952 by Mervyn Victor Richardson, a salesman from Sydney.
  
  
• The world's first Plastic Banknotes were invented in Australia in 1988. They last longer and are harder to counterfeit than paper money.
  
  
• QANTAS inaugurated a pioneering round the world airline service with two planes taking off from Melbourne in 1958.
  
  

Hit REFRESH to reload the page to see another random selection of more Aussie ideas :)

Written by coais

About Stephen Spry

Stephen Spry is a freelance web designer and Internet publisher. He has been working online, full-time, since 1995 after an 18-year career as a high school Careers Adviser. Stephen operates several websites and web directories in a variety of niches. His main web design business can be found here » Come On Aussie.