Person

Unaipon, David (1872 - 1967)

Ngarrindjeri Elder

Born
28 September 1872
Raukkan (Ngarrindjeri Nation), South Australia, Australia
Died
7 February 1967
Tailem Bend (Ngarrindjeri Nation), South Australia, Australia
Occupation
Author, First Nations Leader and Inventor
Alternative Names
  • Ngunaitponi, David (Birth name)

Summary

David Ngunaitponi, known as David Unaipon, was a Ngarrindjeri Elder and Leader, 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.

Details

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.

Chronology

1912
Political action - Called for Ngarrindjeri autonomy over Raukkan (the Point Macleay Reserve)
1926
Political action - Called for the establishment of an Aboriginal state.
1934
Political action - Urged the Commonwealth to take over Aboriginal affairs from the States.

Related Themes

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • 'Legendary Tales of Australian Aborigines' by David Unaipon, 1924-1925, 1924 - 1925, Mitchell Library reference code: 431534; Unaipon, David, 1872-1967; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Books

  • McNiven, Ian J; and Russell, Lynette, Innovation: Knowledge and Ingenuity (Port Melbourne: Thames and Hudson, 2023), 256 pp. See pages: 148, 158-162. Details
  • Smith, W. Ramsay, Myths & Legends of the Australian Aboriginals (London, Bombay and Sydney: George G. Harrap, 1930), 356 + 38 plates pp. Unaipon was the original author of this work. Details
  • Unaipon, David, Native legends (Adelaide: Hunkin, Ellis & King, 1929), 15 pp. Details
  • Unaipon, David, My life story (Adelaide: Aborigines Friendly Association, 1954), 6 pp. Details
  • Unaipon, David: edited by Muecke, Stephen and Shoemaker, Adam, Legendary tales of the Australian Aborigines (Carlton, Vic.: Miegunyah Press, 2006), 232 pp. Details

Book Sections

Journal Articles

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Davis, Megan; and Williams, George, Everything you need to know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2021), 234 pp. Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098]

EOAS ID: biogs/P002699b.htm

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260