David Unaipon was an inventor and writer. He was the first Aboriginal (土著的) Australian to write published (出版的) books. He also worked hard to make life better for Aboriginal people.
David Unaipon was born in South Australia, in 1872. As a young man, he loved to read and was interested in science and music. He thought a lot about new ways to fix engineering problems. Between the years 1909 and 1944, Unaipon made nine important inventions. He also made drawings for a helicopter (直升机) design. He got the idea from the Australian boomerang (回飞镖) and the way it moved through the air. This happened in 1914, before we had helicopters.
Unaipon lived most of his life in Adelaide and worked for the Aborigines' Friends' Association. He worked and travelled around southeastern Australia for fifty years. Sometimes, while travelling from town to town, he was told he couldn't stay in a hotel because he was black, so he understood the problems of racism (种族主义).
In 1925, Unaipon became the first Aboriginal writer to be published. His first published writing was an article in Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper. The article had the title: "Aboriginals: Their Traditions and Customs". He wrote many other articles for newspapers and magazines, getting publicity about the rights of Aboriginal people. He also wrote about the need for white and black people to work together and the need for equal rights for both black and white Australians. He was well educated in both cultures, and in 1929 he helped with a government survey of Aboriginal health and interests.
David Unaipon died in 1967 at the age of 95, in the same year that Aboriginal people were first counted as part of Australia's population. In 1995, David Unaipon's picture was put on the Australian fifty-dollar note, with a drawing of one of his inventions.
