David Unaipon

Unaipon tied the knot with a woman named Katherine Carter, belonging to the Tangane descent, in 1902.

David was invited for the esteemed Australian centenary Levee event in 1936, making him the first man from the aboriginal community to grace the event with his presence.

Unaipon succumbed to death on February 7, 1967 at a hospital located in the town of Tailem Bend.

David was born to James Ngunaitponi and Nymbulda on 28th September, 1872 in Point Mcleay Mission, Australia. He is one among the nine children born to his parents.

He started pursuing his primary education at the ‘Point McLeay Mission School’ when he was seven years old, but discontinued at the age of thirteen to work with the popular politician and pastoralist, C.B Young.

The boy impressed Young with his intelligence, and the latter encouraged Unaipon to explore his passions, such as literature, music and science.

During the 1890s, Unaipon moved to Adelaide in search of employment, but he was denied of opportunities by many for being black-skinned. After a long, tiring hunt for a job, he finally started working as an apprentice to a boot-maker in Adelaide. However, he didn’t continue this job for long and started working at ‘The Point McLeay Store’.

In the early 1900s, David became an employee of the ‘Aborigines’ Friends Association’, an initiative aimed at supporting the rights of Aboriginal Australians.

One of his great accomplishments was the invention of a ‘shearing’ device, mainly aimed at extracting sheep fur. He obtained as many as 19 patents during this period for many other such inventions, which also included an idea of a centrifugal motor.

A few other significant achievements of this great man included his version of a helicopter, which worked on the principle of boomerang. He even explored Optics, which was a subject of great interest and went on to conduct a research on polarisation of light. By 1914, these works of Unaipon made waves amongst the public, helping him earn the title of ‘Australia’s Leonardo’.

David was also fascinated by literature and his interest in this field soon grabbed the attention of the prestigious ‘University of Adelaide’. The institution had appointed David to gather facts and interesting stories and episodes of aboriginal Australians.

David was also associated with the famous newspaper firm ‘The Sydney Telegraph’ since 1924 and even penned numerous articles for the daily.

Unaipon’s research on the aboriginal community was released in 1930, in the form of a book titled ‘Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals’. The book went on to be a well-acclaimed work and was published later as ‘Legendary Tales of The Australian Aborigines’.