25 Facts About David Unaipon

David Ngunaitponi, known as David Unaipon, was an Aboriginal Australian preacher, inventor, and author.

David Unaipon was the son of preacher and writer James Unaipon.

David Ngunaitponi was born on 28 September 1872 at the Point McLeay Mission on the banks of Lake Alexandrina in the Coorong region of South Australia, Unaipon was the fourth of nine children of James, a preacher, and Nymbulda Ngunaitponi.

David Unaipon was later employed by the Aborigines' Friends' Association as a deputationer, in which role he travelled and preached widely in seeking support for the Point McLeay Mission.

David Unaipon retired from preaching in 1959 but continued working on his inventions into the 1960s.

David Unaipon spent five years trying to create a perpetual motion machine.

David Unaipon was still attempting to design such a device in his seventy-ninth year.

David Unaipon took out provisional patents for 19 inventions but was unable to afford to get any of his inventions fully patented, according to some sources.

The invention, the basis of modern mechanical sheep shears, was introduced without David Unaipon receiving any financial return and, apart from a 1910 newspaper report acknowledging him as the inventor, he received no contemporary credit.

David Unaipon was known as the Australian Leonardo da Vinci for his mechanical ideas, which included pre World War I drawings for a helicopter design based on the principle of the boomerang and his research into the polarisation of light; he spent much of his life attempting to achieve perpetual motion.

David Unaipon was obsessed with correct English and in speaking tended to use classical English rather than that in common usage.

David Unaipon's written language followed the style of John Milton and John Bunyan.

David Unaipon was the first Aboriginal author to be published, after he was commissioned in the early 1920s by the University of Adelaide to assemble a book on Aboriginal legends.

David Unaipon published three short booklets of Aboriginal stories in 1927,1928 and 1929.

David Unaipon was much in demand as a public speaker.

David Unaipon was the first Aboriginal writer to publish in English, the author of numerous articles in newspapers and magazines, including the Sydney Daily Telegraph, retelling traditional stories and arguing for the rights of Aboriginal people.

David Unaipon was involved in political issues surrounding Aboriginal affairs and was a keen supporter of Aboriginal self-determination, including working as a researcher and witness for the Bleakley Inquiry into Aboriginal welfare in 1928, and lobbied the Australian Government to take over responsibility for Aboriginal people from its constituent states.

David Unaipon proposed to the government of South Australia to replace the office of Chief Protector of Aborigines with a responsible board and was arrested for attempting to provide a separate territory for Aboriginal people in central and northern Australia.

At the age of 81, David Unaipon was awarded a Coronation Medal in 1953 celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

David Unaipon was inquisitively religious, believing in an equivalence of traditional Aboriginal and Christian spirituality.

David Unaipon was most influenced by Anglican and Congregational churches.

David Unaipon died in the Tailem Bend Hospital on 7 February 1967 and was buried in the Raukkan Mission Cemetery.

In 1995, David Unaipon was featured on the first $50 polymer banknote.

In late 2008, Aboriginal activist Allan "Chirpy" Campbell, a great-nephew of David Unaipon, failed in an attempt to negotiate a settlement with the Reserve Bank of Australia for using an image of Unaipon on the banknote without the permission of the family.

David Unaipon was continuing to advocate on Facebook on this issue as of 2015.