Australia's Entrepreneurship and Innovations - Timeline

  • Electric Drill

    Electric Drill
    Arthur James Arnot (an electrical engineer). In 1889, Arthur James Arnot, with his colleague William Brain, patented the first electric drill. Although, it was a long way away from the portable technologies used today.
  • Electronic Pacemaker

    Electronic Pacemaker
    Australian doctor Mark Lidwill and psychist Edgar Booth. Electronic pacemakers send a small electric charge to the heart to regulate its beat. Nowadays, over 3 million rely on this device to regulate their heart pulse.
  • Medical Application of Penicillin

    Medical Application of Penicillin
    Australian Scientist Howard Florey. The scientist Howard Florey purified penicillin from a strain of mould. This penicillin became popular, quickly, in World War 2, for its efficacy against common bacterial infections.
  • Black Box Flight Recorder

    Black Box Flight Recorder
    David Warren. Black Box Flight Recorder, although it's is in international orange, is used to record conversations and sound that help investigators identify and fix the problems within the aircraft.
  • Permanent-crease clothing

    Permanent-crease clothing
    In 1957, CSIRO developed a process called Si-Ro-Set which uses chemicals to permanently alter the structure of wool fibres so they can be set with heat.
  • Plastic Spectacle Lens

    Plastic Spectacle Lens
    SOLA Optical, in 1960, released its first scratch-resistant plastic lens for glasses. This technology had pioneered a new branch in optical industry.
  • Inflatable escape slide and raft

    Inflatable escape slide and raft
    In 1965, Jack Grant, an employee of Qantas, invented the inflatable aircraft escape slide, which is now mandatory safety equipment on all major airlines.
  • Cochlear implant (bionic ear)

    Cochlear implant (bionic ear)
    Professor Graeme Clark invented the first bionic ear in Melbourne university in the 1970s. Although, the first prototype was planted in a person in 1978.
  • Permaculture

    Bill Mollison. Permaculture a concept that uses a natural approach to designing self-sufficient human settlements and agricultural systems.
  • Ultrasound Scanners

    Ultrasound Scanners
    From 1959 onwards, the now Ultrasonic Institute had discovered a property of ultrasound - bouncing off soft tissues. They had also discovered a way to convert these ultrasound signal into TV images. The first ever ultrasound scanner was commercialised in 1976 by Ausonics.
  • Triton Workcentre

    Triton Workcentre
    In 1976, a 27-year-old television journalist named George Lewin appeared on ABC TV’s The Inventors program with his new invention, the Triton Workcentre.
  • Racecam

    Racecam
    In 1979, Channel 7 introduced live television broadcasting from racing cars, allowing viewers to watch the race from the driver’s perspective. Nowadays, it is widely used in other racing sports such as skiing, basketball and cricket.
  • Winged Keel

    Winged Keel
    John Bertrand, Ben Lexcen and Alan Bond. Although it is not clear of the very invention date but the winged keel made it debut in 1983.
  • Polymer Bank Notes

    Polymer Bank Notes
    David Solomon. The Polymer bank notes were developed by the combined effort of CSIRO and the Reserve Bank of Australia, in the 1980s.
  • Wi - Fi Technology

    Wi - Fi Technology
    John O’ Sullivan and the CSIRO developed Wi-Fi technology. Wi - Fi technology was invented when John and his colleagues at CSIRO were looking for faint echoes of black holes.
  • Spray-on skin

    Spray-on skin
    Fiona Melanie Wood. The spray-on skin is created by taking samples from the healthy skin of a victim. The spray-on skin is then sprayed on the burns' victims to cure their burnt skin.
  • Frazier Lens

    Frazier Lens
    In 1993, Australian inventor Jim Frazier’s deep-focus lens was patented in the United States. His innovative lens allowed for both the subject and background to be in focus at the same time. Jim won an Academy Award in 1998 for his contribution.
  • Google Maps

    Google Maps
    Neil Gordon and Stephen Ma. This magnificent invention is used by almost all the population. It was originally invented by a small start-up company after it was bought by google in 2004.
  • Gardasil and Cervarix cancer vaccines

     Gardasil and Cervarix cancer vaccines
    Brisbane-based medical researchers Professor Ian Frazer and Dr Jian Zhou developed the world’s first anti-cancer vaccine in 2006.
  • Tank-bred tuna system

    Tank-bred tuna system
    In 2008, German-born but South Australian-based Hagen Stehr may have saved the southern blue fin tuna from extinction. The clean-seas system fools the tuna in a tank into thinking they are swimming out of the Australian Bight and into their breeding grounds.