As we celebrate Australia Day Phil Whelan of Hong Kong radio 3 and I looked back at some of Australia’s greatest inventions including:

The Boomerang 10,000 + years ago, it’s an oldie but a goodie and perhaps Australia’s first true invention.

Prepaid postage – 1838 – although postal services existed prior to 1838 the receiver had to pay for the letter or package, in November 1838 Australian postmaster James Raymond introduced the first pre paid postage service.

The Fridge – 1854 – Before electricity and long before today’s smart connected fridges, James Harrison of Geelong Victoria patented a liquid vapour compression system that allows gas to be cooled and liquified by passing through a compressor – the same principle, albeit much advanced, that’s used today in air conditioning and fridges.

Powered Flight – 1894 – Lawrence Hargrave strapped 4 box kites to a compressor air engine and flew five metres, to become the first person to fly a powered machine.

Feature Film – 1906 – The Story of the Ned Kelly Gang, directed by Charles Tait, running for 60 minutes and costing 1,000 pounds  was the world’s first feature film.

Rotary Clothes Hoist – 1911 – The quintessential Australian technology was first patented by Melbournian Gilbert Toyne in 1911. This all metal clothes hoist that rotated freely in the breeze to dry clothes is the nostalgic favourite of every Australian and the thing most associated with a typical Ozzie backyard

Pacemaker – 1928 – Dr Mark Lidwell of Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and physicist Edgar Booth of UNSW devised and patented a portable apparatus that plugged into an electrical outlet. Its a far cry from today’s in-body device, but it is its predecessor.

Black Box Flight Recorder – 1958 – Chemist Dave Warren wondered how after a plane crash we might be able to hear from the pilots what was going on on-board prior to the accident and voila out popped the flight recorder.

Bionic ear – 1978 –  Graeme Clark at University of Melbourne, fitted the first in-ear bionic ear.

Polymer Banknotes – 1988 – plastic notes, difficult to counterfeit, durable and robust were first put into circulation by Australia’s Reserve Bank in 1988, this technology has since been sold around the world and used by countries including New Zealand, Canada, USA, and Romania.

Wi Fi 1992 – The CSIRO patented Wi Fi technology and gave the world a first ever way to connect itself up without wires.

Google Maps – 2003 – Google Maps was a C++ program designed as an app by Sydney based Where2 Technologies and later sold to Google.

These are just some of the incredible inventions that have an Aussie heritage and I’m really looking forward to seeing what makes the list of new inventions in 2016 and beyond.

Have a listen to this segment now (15 minutes 50 seconds) and then add your favourite to the list of great Aussie inventions.