“There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.” – Helen Frankenthaler
How beautiful it is to be in a world where countless inventions exist and new ones will continuously be written in the book of human history. It’s eye-opening to realise humanity is always striving for a better future, for the current and next generation. The inventors that had made our lives easier and changed the world for the better are often not being credited enough for creating masterpieces that provided us a solution for each of our problems.
Australia is one of the countries that had come up with most of the innovative ideas and made them all possible to be invented. From the medical industry, aviation industry, technology industry, and many more, Australian inventors have made their name to be known, and their inventions to be used globally.
It’s time to acknowledge the Australian inventions that have changed the world. Let’s get started!
Australian Inventions
Invention 1 - Black Box Flight Recorder
The black box flight recorder was invented by an Australian scientist Dr. David Warren, who lost his own father to an aircraft tragedy in 1934. His invention now has helped make commercial air travel as safe as it is today.
The idea came to mind when Dr. David Warren was part of a Melbourne research team exploring why the commercial jet aircraft known as the Comet had suffered a series of deadly crashes. He thought it would help investigators fix what was wrong if they had a recording of the last conversations between the crew and other sounds inside the plane before it crashed.
A black box is now installed on every commercial plane around the world, but it was in Australia that they were first made compulsory for all commercial flights.
Related Courses
Aerospace Engineering
Recommended Universities | Program Name | Program Duration | Indicative Annual Fee (2020) |
University of New South Wales (UNSW) | Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Hons) | 4 years | AUD$47,760 |
Monash University | AUD$46,000 | ||
Edith Cowan University | Bachelor of Technology (Aeronautical) | 3 years | AUD$30,250 |
Computer Engineering
Recommended Universities | Program Name | Program Duration | Indicative Annual Fee (2020) |
University of Wollongong | Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (Computer Engineering) | 4 years | AUD$18,768 |
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) | Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (Computer & Software Systems) | AUD$41,500 | |
RMIT University | Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (Computer & Network Engineering) | AUD$37,440 |
Invention 2 - Google Maps
In the early 2000s, Danish brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen developed the platform for Google Maps in Sydney. And in 2003, together with Australians Neil Gordon and Stephen Ma, they founded a small start-up company called Where 2 Technologies. The following year, their invention was bought by Google, which in result got them hired in the company. Later, the technology was turned into what we now know as Google Maps.
Related Courses
Software Engineering
Recommended Universities | Program Name | Program Duration | Indicative Annual Fee (2020) |
Monash University | Bachelor of Software Engineering (Hons) | 4 years | AUD$46,000 |
University Technology Sydney (UTS) | AUD$31, 000 | ||
University of South Australia | AUD$33,600 |
Computer Science
Recommended Universities | Program Name | Program Duration | Indicative Annual Fee (2020) |
University of Queensland |
Bachelor of Computer Science |
3 years | AUD$45,120 |
Griffith University | AUD$31,000 | ||
Edith Cowan University | AUD$32,650 |
Invention 3 - Cochlear Implant (Bionic Ear)
The first-ever bionic ear was invented in the 1970s by Professor Graeme Clark – the first prototype was implanted in a person in 1978. Graeme’s motivation to pursue hearing loss technology came from his own father’s inadequate hearing.
Cochlear implants are devices that are implanted into the head to stimulate the auditory nerve electronically. Up till today, the Cochlear implant has brought hearing to more than 180,000 and an increasing amount of deaf and partially deaf people worldwide.
Related Courses
Recommended Universities | Program Name | Program Duration | Indicative Annual Fee (2020) |
James Cook University | Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery | 6 years | AUD$57,800 |
University of Adelaide | AUD$76,000 | ||
University of Tasmania (UTAS) | 5 years | AUD$74,950 |
Invention 4 - Wifi Technology
In 1992, Wi-Fi technology was developed by John O’ Sullivan and the CSIRO. It is now used by more than a billion people around the world today. It all started with research in the mid-1970s in the field of radio astronomy, when John and his colleagues at the CSIRO were originally looking for the faint echoes of black holes.
And it turned out that the CSIRO has held key patents for Wi-Fi technology since the mid-1990s, bringing the organisation millions of dollars in royalties every year.
Related Courses
Mechanical Engineering
Recommended Universities | Program Name | Program Duration | Indicative Annual Fee (2020) |
Monash University | Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Hons) | 4 years | AUD$46,000 |
Edith Cowan University | AUD$30,200 | ||
Federation University | AUD$28,800 |
Information Technology
Recommended Universities | Program Name | Program Duration | Indicative Annual Fee (2020) |
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) | Bachelor of Information Technology | 3 years | AUD$36,300 |
Western Sydney University | AUD$30,840 | ||
RMIT University | AUD$34,560 |
Invention 5 - Ultrasound Scanner
Ausonics first commercialised the ultrasound scanner in 1976. The study of ultrasound had started in 1959. From then onwards, the Ultrasonics Research Section of the Commonwealth Acoustics Laboratories Branch discovered a way to differentiate ultrasound echoes bouncing off soft tissue in the body and converting them to TV images.
This discovery had changed prenatal care as it gave expecting parents an image of the fetus without x-ray exposure. Ultrasound technology now is also used in the diagnoses of medical problems of the breast, abdomen, and reproductive organs.
Related Courses
Applied Sciences
Recommended Universities | Program Name | Program Duration | Indicative Annual Fee (2020) |
Deakin University | Bachelor of Medical Imaging | 4 years | AUD$37,200 |
University of South Australia | Bachelor of Medical Radiation Science | AUD$37,800 | |
The University of Sydney | Bachelor of Applied Science (Diagnostic Radiography) | AUD$53,000 |
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Nurul Nadira
I am an English undergraduate student who reads and listens to bands.
