David Unaipon, one of Australia's great thinkers ... He is also said to have contributed to the helicopter, having designed its rotors pre-World War I, based on the principle of the boomerang ...

David Unaipon (also written as Ngunaitponi ... 1914: Unaipon anticipated the helicopter, applying the principle of the boomerang. His search for the secret of perpetual motion lasted throughout ...

But, the first helicopter didn’t fly until 1930 and used almost exactly ... In 1988, 21 years after his death, Unaipon was honoured by the establishment of the annual national David Unaipon Award for ...