Weird

9 Grouse Inventions You Didn't Know Were Australian AF

Wednesday, January 25, 2017 - 14:31

Australia. What a place. You may have even heard of it.

We were late on the bandwagon, because we only heard about Straya a few weeks ago. So we're still learning about what goes on 'Down Under' (is that right? We have NFI).

But word on the Australian street is that they've invented a few pretty bonzer (?) things in their time. Too right, mates. Ha ha. Get a load of these.

Australian Inventions You Had No Idea Were From Down Under

Australia. It's a land far away, but did you know that you use things invented there every single day? Yep, these are some fair dinkum, you beaut devices to help you live your life. Like the double flush toilet, with a different flush for 1s & 2s!

Rex/Shutterstock/Comedy Central

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Ooh, remember the controversy about the new £5 note? Well, Australia has had plastic notes for years. THEY LIVE IN THE FUTURE.

Comedy Central

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Also, Strayans sorted out the black box flight recording device. It's actually orange IRL, but you knew that already, didn't you? Champs.

Rex/Shutterstock/Comedy Central

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If you're reading this using a wifi connection, you can thank Australian government-funded scientists. They are absolute bloody rippers.

Comedy Central

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We couldn't be more stoked to let you know that the hills hoist clothesline was invented in Straya. What a place.

hillshome

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Do you like drilling holes? Do ya like drilling them *fast*? Well, the electric drill was invented by an Aussie.

Direct Industry

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We reckon youse might be familiar with Google Maps. Well, a pair of Danish brothers and some Sydneysiders started the whole platform using their own company, which was bought by Google for a handful of magic beans (and some cold hard cash).

Google Maps/Comedy Central

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Ah, the humble notepad. What a battler. And it exists because some bloke in Tassie got pissed right off at the way he had to write shit down. So he made this useful little bastard. What a deadset legend.

freestock

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This absolute bloody champion by the name of Florey (and his mates) sorted the medical application of penicillin right out. It's saved a shitload of lives and we reckon it's grouse. Onya, Florey.

freeicons

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MORE INVENTIONS: Amazing Inventions And Discoveries By Female Scientists

Amazing Inventions And Discoveries By Female Scientists

We have a hard time spelling algorithm. Ada Lovelace fucking invented them. She worked tirelessly at the University of London to create what was probably the first computer programme. Check out other amazing stuff we have women to thank for...

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Rosalind Elsie Franklin made critical contributions to the understanding of DNA. The sheer impact of her research was only discovered AFTER her death - because two male chemists awarded a Nobel Prize for the work buried her findings in the footnotes. FFS.

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Florence Papart was our kind of housewife. Walking along the street, her dress was splashed by some idiot driving a bad street cleaning machine. So she went and invented a new one. By 1914 she'd helped invent the fridge. PEOPLE USED TO USE BUCKETS OF ICE!

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Unless YOU'RE the flatmate that secretly turns the heating off at every opportunity (stop that shit right now), you'll be eternally grateful for the birth of Alice Parker, who first brought about the idea of gas-powered central heating.

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You can thank Josephine Cochrane for your dishwasher. A socialite from the 1800's who loved to entertain, but couldn't bear how much of her posh china got broken by servants - so she invented a machine instead.

Funnydogsite.com

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Remember that Nestlé Toll House Friends ep? Ruth Wakefield bought an old toll house to feed weary travellers. When she ran out of chocolate, she crumbled a Nestlé bar into some batter. Nestlé then bought the recipe for a LIFETIME SUPPLY OF CHOCOLATE!

Techeblog.com

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Ah, beer. The pinnacle of manliness. Or not, 'cos kick ass women invented it. Author Jane Peyton's (another woman - go figure) extensive research on the topic of beer production through the ages shows that Mesopotamian women created dat sweet nectar.

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Five times stronger than steel, protects our soldiers in battle, can stop a BULLET in its tracks - sounds like a pretty 'manly' invention, this life-saving Kevlar stuff. Funny then, that DuPont chemist Stephanie Kwolek made it.

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Admiral Grace Mary Hopper worked on the first large-scale computer in the US - it weighed FIVE TONS. Hopper was the third person to program it, wrote the manual of operations and coined the term 'debugging' - when actual moths fell in the machine!

Thefix.com

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Unsure how to deal with the real world of mortages, rent, tax and property? Don't worry, they had the same problem in the 1800's - but clever young woman Elizabeth Magie decided to explain political economy in this workable, fun game format.

Worldofmonopoly.com

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Not an invention as such, but shall we just remind ourselves that women GROW. HUMAN. BEINGS. INSIDE. THEM?! Have a think about that for a minute. They grow them, carry them about, push them out of a TINY HOLE and keep them alive forever. WT ACTUAL F THO.

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