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 1982, the dual flush toilet (dunny) was responsible for initial savings in excess of 32000 litres of water per household a year. Pretty important in a dry continent!
  
  
• The CSIRO developed a snake antivenom in 1968 which acted against the poison from most Australian snakes.
  
  
• Automated betting at horse races was made possible with the Automatic Totalisator invented by George Julius in 1913.
  
  
• In 1929, Alfred Traeger invented the Pedal Wireless - a pedal-operated generator which was connected to a wireless
  
  
• Interscan - an aircraft approach and landing guidance system using microwaves - was successfully tested at Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne in 1975
  
  
• The Sydney GPO had the world's first mechanised Letter Sorting Machine in 1930. It was developed by an engineer with the Postmaster General's Department.
  
  
• The first ultrasound scanner was built in 1961 at the ultrasonics institute in the Commonwealth Department of Health by George Kossoff and David Robinson.
  
  
• Longtime household glove maker, Ansell, introduced disposable latex gloves for use in surgery in 1964.
  
  
• The world's first pregnancy using In-vitro Fertilisation (IVF) technology was reported from Monash Medical Centre in 1973. The first frozen embryo baby was born in Melbourne in 1984.
  
  
• 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.
  
  

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.