Timeline of Australian innovations | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Timeline of Australian innovations

Indigenous innovations

Australia is an ancient land. Some Australian fossils are around 3.5 billion years old. The history of modern humans in Australia goes back tens of thousands of years, with archaeological evidence dated to at least 65,000 years ago. Australia’s first peoples developed many objects, weapons and practices that helped them survive in the Australian landscape - an environment that was often harsh.

painting of Australian bush landscape

Eugene Von Guerard, Source of the Wannon, 1867, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135740687

Eugene Von Guerard, Source of the Wannon, 1867, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135740687

Tools for hunting and survival

The diet of the first Australians consisted of fruits, tubers and berries found throughout the Australian landscape and varied by region. They would also hunt small animals such as birds, lizards, snakes and fish, as well as big game like emus, kangaroos and wallabies. They used tools including:

  • Boomerangs – made from hardwood and shaped for aerodynamic flight. Not all boomerangs were designed to return; heavier boomerangs were used to hunt and kill game.
  • Spears – tipped with stone, bone or shell.
  • Clubs and axes – used in hunting, fishing and combat.
  • Woomeras – spear-throwers that increased throwing range and force. Some designs could also be used for cutting or digging.

Boomerangs

Hunters were skilled in the art of throwing boomerangs over long distances. Boomerangs were crafted from hardwood and sculpted in a way that made them aerodynamic. Many people think of the boomerang as an object that always returns to its thrower. However, returning boomerangs were made and used only by a select few groups - mainly as toys or for scaring birds while hunting. Heavier, longer boomerangs were used for hunting. They were not designed to return but, instead, to maim or kill their target from a distance.

Woomeras

Woomeras varied in design from group to group, but the basics were the same. A long, thin handle was carved from very hard wood and a point made of bone or stone attached to hold a spear in place. A woomera attached to the end of a spear gave the thrower more leverage. It was like an extension of the arm, meaning that the spear went further.

A spear thrown with a woomera can produce around four times the kinetic energy of a modern compound bow. Woomeras were often used as multipurpose tools; some designs were flat and shallow, with a sharp edge that could be used for cutting or digging.

Did you know? A spear thrown with a woomera can generate up to 4 times the energy of a modern compound bow.

Fire and land management

For millennia, Australian Indigenous peoples used their knowledge of the land to carefully manage the areas they frequented.

They used fire to sculpt the country in ways that would help them hunt, grow crops and prevent large-scale fires from destroying communities. They employed a complex technique called ‘firestick farming’ to create a mosaic across the land - burning some areas, leaving others and opening up wide plains next to forests. Unlike European trees, 70% of Australia’s native plants need fire to germinate. Traditional owners knew this and used fire to encourage new growth. They also knew that certain animals liked to eat fresh new grass and plants; burning areas of land to promote new growth attracted such animals, making them easier to hunt.

While communities lived off the land and knew how to exploit it, they were sure not to stay in one place for too long. This would lead to over-harvesting and damage to the ecosystem. Indigenous communities occupied different lands in a cyclical fashion to look after the land and country.

A watercolour image depicting a hilly bushland scene. In the foreground a man in a white loincloth is in the action of throwing a spear at a kangaroo in mid-jump. There are many kangaroos throughout the image. There are also many figures throwing spears and boomerangs at various animals. In the middle of the image, rising from a dense thicket of trees, a large plume of white smoke boils upwards and mixes with the clouds in the sky.

Joseph Lycett, Aborigines using fire to hunt kangaroos, 1817, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138501179

Joseph Lycett, Aborigines using fire to hunt kangaroos, 1817, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138501179

Colonial Australia (1788­­–1900)

1850: Refrigeration

In the mid- to late eighteenth century, Australian agricultural output was thriving. In Great Britain, however, poor harvests and crop disease led to food shortages and riots in major cities. It wasn’t possible to ship meat or fresh produce back to Europe from Australia; with no way of keeping it cold, the food would spoil as the ships sailed through the tropics.

yellowed photograph of docks and trucks

Samuel White Sweet, Port Parade [sailing ships on quayside with timber and other cargo, rail wagons], 1869, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144225735

Samuel White Sweet, Port Parade [sailing ships on quayside with timber and other cargo, rail wagons], 1869, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144225735

Modern Australia: The 20th century

1948: Hills hoist

The Hills hoist transformed backyards across Australia in the years following the Second World War - all because of some lemon trees in a suburban Adelaide garden.

In 1945, Lance Hill and his wife were fed up with half their clothesline being blocked by a lemon tree. They needed more space to hang their clothes. Rather than getting rid of the tree, Hill looked for alternative solutions. Using his home laundry as a workshop, he fashioned an innovative replacement: a rotating clothesline that could be raised or lowered.

Hill sold his first clothesline in 1946. Soon orders became too much for Lance and his brother, who had joined the business, to handle. In 1947, they moved into a larger workshop, bought three trucks and employed staff to help assemble the clotheslines that have come to symbolise Australian suburbia.  Hills Industries, as the company is known today, still produce clotheslines, as well as security systems, car parts and garden equipment. In 1994, the company sold its 5-millionth clothesline.

black and white photograph of two women hanging washing on a clothes line

Abraham Valentine Booth, Two women hanging washing on a line, Wagga Wagga Region, New South Wales, ca. 1912, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-151874333

Abraham Valentine Booth, Two women hanging washing on a line, Wagga Wagga Region, New South Wales, ca. 1912, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-151874333

Learning activities

Activity 1: Choose and rank influential inventions

Work as a class to agree on a definition of ‘influential’. Then ask each student to name an invention they believe changed human history. Record each student’s response.

  • Plot the inventions on a shared timeline. You can group similar inventions or arrange them by how influential the class thinks they are.

Activity 2: Predict future technology

As a class, list major technological advances from the last 50 years. Think about how these advances have changed daily life, work or communication. Now ask students to predict what new technologies we might see in:

  • 10 years
  • 20 years
  • 50 years

Discuss how these future technologies might affect our lives.

Activity 3: Imagine life without a key discovery

Ask each student to choose a scientific discovery or invention made in the last 100 years. Then have them imagine life without it.

Some ideas include: Wifi, plastic bank notes, google maps, the flight recorder (aka black box), the pacemaker, latex gloves and the cochlear implant. 

  • Get students to describe how their daily routines, health, learning or social life might be different.
Page published: 05 May 2025

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