In 2022 a group of students from the UNSW Faculty of Engineering proved a theory first proposed over 100 years ago: that ancient boomerang technology could be used for vertical flight.
In 2022 a group of students from the UNSW Faculty of Engineering proved a theory first proposed over 100 years ago: that ancient boomerang technology could be used for vertical flight.
Now participants from the project are teaming up with the new UNSW First Nations Engineering and Science Society (FNESS) to showcase Indigenous innovation and inspire the next generation of First Nations students.
The idea that the boomerang could be adapted for vertical flight was proposed by First Nations inventor and Ngarrindjeri man David Unaipon in 1914.
Unaipon is perhaps most well-known for his modern mechanical sheep shears that revolutionised the wool industry and generated economic windfall for Australia, leading to him being immortalised on the Australian fifty dollar note.
However, Unaipon was also fascinated by perpetual motion and aerodynamics, and theorised that two boomerangs working together could generate vertical take-off, effectively conceptualising the modern helicopter.
It was this theory that the team from UNSW Engineering sought to prove, in a challenge filmed for an SBS NITV and Channel 10 series (aired in 2023) called The First Inventors which explores and celebrates the knowledge and innovations of First Nations peoples.
The team recognised that the boomerang shares many characteristics with the modern-day aerofoil – the design behind the wings of jets, propellers, engine blades and helicopter rotors – and worked to combine these ancient design principles with modern drone technology.
Using 3D printing to prototype and produce models for testing, the team found their drone design to be successful.
Dr Sonya A Brown, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design at the UNSW School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, led the challenge in 2022.
At the time, she said the team had “demonstrated that boomerang technology can lead to propulsion, particularly vertically taking off and landing on the ground,” proving Unaipon was decades ahead of his time.
Dr Brown is now working with FNESS to introduce the project’s findings to a new cohort of students.
“We are trying to use our learnings from the 2022 project and expand it to a larger group to inspire more First Nations people to want to be inventors, engineers and scientists,” Dr Brown says.
“We also want to strengthen the community of First Nations students who have already taken on this challenge of studying engineering and science, and give them a chance to work on projects that connect their culture and technology.”
Dr Brown also hopes that highlighting the innovations of First Nations peoples will correct misunderstandings regarding the knowledge and ingenuity of the world’s oldest living culture and perhaps inspire more Australians to incorporate traditional knowledge into how today’s modern challenges could be solved.
“There is lots to discover about First Nations people and the technology they used,” she says.
“There are fantastic stories of First Nations waterway management, fire management. It is really important to bring to life these stories of the technology that Indigenous Australians developed and to challenge our assumptions.”
Dr Brown and FNESS are now working to introduce the next generation of students to First Nations inventions and inspire them to consider how traditional knowledge and modern engineering can work together, showcasing at UNSW Open Days, as well as outreach and preparatory programs for high school students.
“I met one of the current FNESS executives at a prep program a couple of years ago, and now he’s on campus studying aerospace engineering and is an exec of this new society, so these things have impact,” says Dr Brown.
“FNESS is student-led, and I feel the best thing we can do for First Nations students is to support them to explore what they want to explore.
“In terms of the future it all depends what the students are passionate about next. It’s about supporting them to choose their own path.”
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