What does the Boomerang, Helicopter and Australian $50 note share in common?
The Boomerang is an ancient tool/weapon crafted and mastered by the Original People of Australia. It is the first innovation of propelled flight.
The Helicopter is an aircraft that uses rotating or spinning wings called blades to fly.
The Australian $50 note (On the back) A portrait of Edith Cowan, the first female member of any Australian parliament. (On the front) A picture of an aboriginal Australian author, inventor and incredible mind of his time, along with drawings from one of his inventions. The Boomerang and Helicopter share a notable interaction in history with this man.
Meet David Unaipon-
David Unaipon - State Library of New South Wales
The next time you pull that yellow back ($50 note) out of your wallet, purse, pocket or bra, you should take 'note' of the front and who some might call the "Australian or Black Davinci" David Unaipon. Not an accurate comparison, but indeed a "Genius" this brilliant aboriginal scholar and inventor had the Helicopter concept two decades before others.
David Unaipon was from the Ngarrindjeri (People who belong to this land), born on 28th - September 1872 at the Point McLeay Mission, South Australia. At seven, his parents, James and Nymbulda Ngunaitponi, who had been given the Christian last name ‘Unaipon’, sent him to school at the mission. At thirteen, C.B. Young, a prominent member of the Aborigines Friends Association, took David to work in Adelaide as his servant. David was determined to follow his dreams and would go on to become a Writer, Scientist, Inventor and more.
Young David Unaipon living and studying in the home of CB Young, Adelaide. 1885
“I only wish the majority of white boys were as bright, intelligent, well-instructed and well-mannered, as the little fellow I am now taking charge of” (1)
C.B Young on David Unaipon. 1887
Unaipon made drawings of his basic design for a helicopter by 1914, 22 years before the first operational helicopter in 1936. He got the idea from the aerodynamic principle of a boomerang’s movement through the air and applied that principle in his helicopter design.
[The Boomerang is an aerodynamically shaped object designed to fly efficiently through the air when thrown by the hand. Two design components give a Boomerang the capability of circular flight. One is the arrangement of the arms, and the other is the air-foil profile shape that allows the arms into wings. During the flight, a Boomerang spins rapidly (about ten revolutions per second). The wing profiles create the same lift effect that makes aeroplanes fly. In addition, the spinning motion creates gyroscopic precession, which pulls a Boomerang into a circular path]
"[An aeroplane can be manufactured that will rise straight into the air from, the ground by the application of the boomerang principle,] The boomerang is shaped to rise in the air according to the velocity with which it is propelled, and so can an aeroplane. This class of flying machine can be carried on board ship, the immense advantages of which are obvious." (2)
[David Unaipon, Daily Herald 1914]
Unaipon Helicopter livery design - by Stephan Hitchins Unaipon Helicopter
“When I solved the flight of the boomerang...it seemed to me that I could do away with the preliminary run of the aeroplane, and make the machine rise direct from the ground. I know that certain laws on which I work have not been tried before, but I am quite sure I shall be successful. I am aware of the opposing forces; but I know what to do to overcome them.” (3)
- David Unaipon
“David Unaipon (the Australian aboriginal who invented an improvement on the sheep-sheaf ing machine), is now at work on an invention to enable aeroplanes to rise vertically from the ground, instead of running along for some distance to gain impetus. Unaipon, who is attracting interested audiences in Melbourne by his philosophic discourses on religion and other subjects, became much interested in aeroplane flights, and it occurred to him that the principle underlying the fight of the boomerang might be applied to the aeroplane to do away with the preliminary run.
He says that he thinks he has solved the problem. He is having constructed appliances to allow him to make conclusive trials. The strange flight of the boomerang is the result of scientific laws which have been thought out carefully. Unaipon says that it is a great mistaketo suppose that its peculiar curve and weight are merely an accident. The weapon was evolved after many years of experiment, and probably no man in the world has given more attention to its principles than he has done.” (4)
- An Inventive Aboriginal - The Aeroplanes Rise.
(From the Daily Telegraph) Melbourne, Thursday, July 30.
Thought to be impossible, David’s main goal was to achieve perpetual motion (Motion that continues indefinitely without an external energy source). During his work on perpetual motion, in 1909, he patented the Mechanical motion sheep shears. His design, which converts curvilinear motion into a straight-line movement, forms the basis of the operation of modern mechanical shears. Google even featured his design as one of their doodles in 2012.
Google Doodles - David Unaipon’s 140th Birthday
“When I was at school the master, who told us in simple language something of the wonderful progress of science during the nineteenth century, made my mind turn to discoveries, and the possibility of finding what I then thought must be the fundamental things of life, the elixir of life, the philosopher’s stone, and perpetual motion…
I have been thinking about it ever since then,I studied natural philosophy, and when I read the life of Sir Isaac Newton and the laws of motion, it gave me a new line of thought. Experiments with gravitation taught me that the problem of perpetual motion would never be solved with the present knowledge of mechanics, so I experimented further with gravitation, hoping by that means to discover a new line.”(5)
David Unaipon
David Unaipon’s improved handpiece for sheep shearing. State Library of South Australia (1st Apr 2019). Patent specification. Mechanical motion. Sheep shears. No. 15,624, 1909. D. Unaipon, SA.
Despite his design being a valuable concept taking off widely and bringing in large sums for Australia, no one was there for David financially, and others benefited from his invention. A Very Intelligent man, David was multilingual, speaking Latin, Greek and English. Also, he would interpret Aboriginal “message sticks” of his area.
Message Stick Interpretation
A brilliant scholar and known leader, David was often refused refreshments at events and accommodation on his travels for being Aboriginal. He knew the everyday treatment of the Ngarrindjeri and all Aboriginal people across the country at the time of the Aborigine Protection Act. There was no escape from being an Aborigine in Australia, and David was still looked upon differently because of it., The notion was that no “full-blooded” Aborigine would be smart enough to have achieved what David Unaipon had. Only “white blood” could have such intelligence, and David was considered an exception to the rule. This sort of attitude towards Aboriginal Intelligence is still alive today.
David Unaipon was also the first Aboriginal writer to be published. He wrote several articles for the Sydney Daily Telegraph. A spokesman for the Aboriginal community, he participated in the royal commissions and inquiries into Aboriginal issues. In 1912 he led a contingent urging government control of Point McLeay Mission; the following year, he gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal matters and became a subscription collector for the Aborigines’ Friends’ Association.
The Richmond River Herald 1911 (1)
David's writings include a book he compiled in 1920 commissioned by Angus, and Robertson, who acknowledged his authorship, paying him the standard writing rate of £2/2/ per 1,000 words. In August 1925, communications between Unaipon and Angus & Robertson stopped. Even though David had continued to collect stories, his telegrams seeking payment went unanswered. Angus & Robertson offered to accept the remaining levels and move forward with publication, but, for some reason, David never received the letter.
Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines - Buy here - Booktopia
After over a year of silence, Scottish anthropologist William Ramsay Smith purchased David's work from Angus & Robertson to prepare for publication. (6 )Smith published the collection under his name and with a new title. [Myths & Legends of the Australian Aboriginals] Smith also included twenty-one other legends in his publication, which some scholars have suggested to have also been written by David. In 1998, Smith's book contained a completely unchanged version of David’s. This appropriation by Smith denied David's authorship and the systematic racism towards the intelligence and oppression of aboriginal people at the time. In 'Fishing', for example, David says:
“This way of fishing requires a great deal of knowledge, or to be more correct, mathematical knowledge. I am not attempting to claim that my race are mathematicians from the civilised standpoint. But let us review them standing in their canoes ... the speed at which it is travelling and the depth at which it is swimming has to be allowed for, and also the speed and depth of the fish at a distance of fifteen yards away, and the spear is thrown unerringly and strikes the fish”
David Unaipon - Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines (pp. 23-24)
In Smith's 1930 edition, this passage on 'mathematical knowledge was edited down to just one sentence:
“This manner of fishing requires a great deal of knowledge, founded on observation and practice”
Smith, W. Ramsay. Myths and legends of Aborigine. 1930: p. 236.
On page 7 - David adds:
“There is a whole science in footprints. Footprints are the same evidence to a bush native as finger-prints are in a court of law”
David Unaipon - Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines
Smith very conveniently just removed this last sentence from his 1930 publication. In 2001, with the support of David's descendants, the original manuscript was retrieved from the State Library of New South Wales and published under David Unaipon's name.
Besides modifications in the sheep shearing tool, David Unaipon made several other inventions, including a motor run by centrifugal force, a multi-radial wheel design and a mechanical propulsion device. He applied for up to 19 innovations, but they all lapsed. David needed more financial support to develop a lot of his ideas. At least 9 of his last Ideas did not succeed in funding. He was also a ‘recognized’ authority in ballistics and found himself drawn to the complex problem of the polarisation of light and the concentration of light at a given point.
“These would be the greatest weapons in future warfare,” prophesied Unaipon. “We are gradually coming to the age where we might expect to be able to hurl electricity, like nature does, for instance, in the shape of lightning.” (7)
David Unaipon 1911
David Unaipon was only 13 years old when he reached out to learn and follow his dream. It is a deprivation of aboriginal empowerment today and a denial of history to not teach the work of this Ngarrindjeri Genius. Some scholars have taken the position that placing David Unaipon as a genius reinforces ideas of his exceptionalism as an Aboriginal native, which he argued. It does not unlock the coded arguments now widely discredited. Many scholars lack life experience as an Aboriginal Person and do not see the devastation the lack of empowerment has caused our communities. An educational system that does not teach 'Aboriginal' contributions to history is a part of that same coded argument. The story of David Unaipon's contribution is not taught as a unit in the Australian school system today, just as Lewis Latimer's contribution to the light bulb and power station is still missing from American history.
A true genius - an exceptional intellectual or creative power. David Unaipon is a tool for the empowerment of Aboriginal people right across Australia. What more could we have seen or learnt from this amazing man had he been given the opportunity?
David Unaipon [music] March 1910
Acknowledgment to the descendants and Ngarrindjeri country.
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Footnotes:
(1) Jenkin, 1979: p. 185.
(2) 1907, 'GLORY OF GOLDEN BAY A Story of the Mutton Bird Islands', The Lone hand W. McLeod]
(3) Ibid
(4) An Inventive Aboriginal - The Aeroplanes Rise. (From the Daily Telegraph) Melbourne, Thursday, July 30. Australian Aborigines Mission. 1908, Australian Aborigines advocate: a monthly record of work amongst the dark people of Australia T.E. Colebrook, Annandale, [N.S.W.]
(5) An aboriginal genius - Full-blooded native who is a Philosopher, Inventor and Musican. Daily Herald. Adelaide, SA Monday 1st June 1914.
(6) Angus & Robertson & Smith, W. Ramsay (William Ramsay), 1859-1937 & Unaipon, David, 1872-1967 (1928). [Correspondence between Angus & Robertson and William Ramsay Smith and David Unaipon concerning publication and copyright of Aboriginal legends, with related papers.]
(7) Ibid Daily Herald. Adelaide, SA Monday 1st June 1914.
Further sources -
Australian Dictionary of Biography – http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/unaipon-david-8898
Writings of David Unaipon (Native Lengends) - https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C384463
National Library of Australia David Unaipon – https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/638876?c=people
My life story / by David Unaipon Aborigines Friendly Association. - https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/311340
Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri – https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9600086?q&versionId=45429915
The Reserve Bank of Australia – David Unaipon (1872–1967) – https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/assets/pdf/biographies/david-unaipon.pdf
Daily Telegraph, 'Aboriginals: Their Traditions and Customs' by David Unaipon, 2 August 1924 - https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/david-unaipons-achievements-have-helped-make-australia-a-better-place/news-story/69f4b462f37000ee5dd3036fa166effe
(David Unaipon)Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1677729.Legendary_Tales_of_the_Australian_Aborigines
NITV, David Unaipon and the $50 note: the story behind the image - https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/the-point-with-stan-grant/article/2016/02/29/david-unaipon-and-50-note-story-behind-image
