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

• A lightweight, fully-enclosed hybrid toilet system which needs no water and requires minimal maintenance was released in 1998.
  
  
• The u-beaut "ute", with a front including the comforts of a car, and a rear like a truck, was designed in 1933 at the Ford Motor Company in Geelong, Victoria.
  
  
• Kiwi Boot Polish was first available for sale in 1906. It could restore the faded colour of brown shoes.
  
  
• The world's first plastic spectacle lenses, 60% lighter than glass lenses, were designed in 1960 by Scientific Optical Laboratories.
  
  
• The first full-size rotary hoe cultivator was developed in 1922 and used energy to turn the soil directly, rather than dragging a plough behind a tractor.
  
  
• The Surf Lifesaving Reel was first demonstrated at Bondi Beach in 1906. It was designed by Lyster Ormsby.
  
  
• Interscan - an aircraft approach and landing guidance system using microwaves - was successfully tested at Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne in 1975
  
  
• The Pop Top Can idea of press-buttons on cans (where the button is hinged to the can) so it does not cause a litter problem, was developed by Sir Ian McLennan of BHP in 1973
  
  
• In Victoria, the first prototype of a solar water heating system was developed by the CSIRO in 1953
  
  
• Automated betting at horse races was made possible with the Automatic Totalisator invented by George Julius in 1913.
  
  

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.