From the early invention of the boomerang as an effective hunting weapon to today's ground-breaking contributions to science and technology, Australians have always proven brilliantly adept at coming up with creative solutions to challenging problems. From manufacturing to agriculture, film to medicine, it's likely that an Australian invention is making a valuable contribution to the way we live. AUSTRALIA'S GREATEST INVENTIONS reveals how our industry and innovation have placed this country at the forefront of so many fields.

Australia has a reputation for innovation and inventiveness — that famous 'tie it up with fence-wire' attitude towards getting things done is one of our best-known national characteristics.

Popular opinion tells us that a knack for adaptation — for jerry rigging and so-called 'bush improvisation' — is one of the qualities that marks us out as Australian. If you had to play 'spot the Australian' among other nationalities, you'd choose the ones with the duct tape and pliers in their hands. But ask your average Aussie to reel off a list of uniquely Australian inventions at a pub trivia night, and most won't get much further than the stump-jump plough, the Hills Hoist, Speedos and the pavlova.

Suddenly you may find yourself wondering if we're all that inventive as a culture after all? These examples certainly don't seem to build a terribly convincing case.

This book proves that for a 200-year-old culture with a relatively small population, Australians have a much richer inventive history than we give ourselves credit for. Once we've seen that this reputation for inventiveness is justified, the next question becomes: is there something in our cultural wiring, something about being Australian, that makes us more inventive than other people?

This book is part of Exisle Publishing's Little Red Books series.

Every title in the Little Red Books series provides an overview of key events, people or places in Australian history. They cover the essentials, bringing the reader up to speed on the most important, fascinating or intriguing facts. Appealing to everyone from students to pensioners who've always wanted to "know a bit about that", they're an essential part of every Australian bookshelf.