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Unaipon, David (1872 - 1967)

Published Sources
Inventor
Born: 28 September 1872  Point McLeay Mission, South Australia, Australia.  Died: 7 February 1967  Tailem Bend, South Australia, Australia.
David Unaipon was an Aboriginal preacher and inventor, and one of Australia's first Aboriginal writers. He developed and patented a modified handpiece for shearing in 1907 and made predictions about the development of polarised light and helicopter flight.

Career Highlights
Born Point McLeay Mission, South Australia, 28 September 1872. Died 7 February 1967. Servant 1885-90, Point McLeay Mission 1890-late 1890s (learned bootmaking), storeman for an Adelaide bootmaker, book-keeper, Point McLeay store, spent 50 years collecting subscriptions for the Aborigines' Friends' Association, combining this work with lectures and sermons, studied and published Aboriginal legends from the early 1920s, wrote articles from 1924 for the Sydney "Daily Telegraph", assisted the Bleakley inquiry into Aboriginal welfare 1928-29. Coronation medal 1953. Commemorated by portraits in the South Australian Museum, the national David Unaipon award for Aboriginal writers, established 1988, and the annual Unaipon lecture in Adelaide, established 1988.
 

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Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Rosanne Walker
Created: 30 June 1997
Modified: 7 August 2006

Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007
Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre
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Updated: 26 February 2007
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P002699b.htm

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