David Unaipon

David Unaipon (1872-1967) was a most extraordinary person. A Ngarrindjeri man, he was a political activist, scientist, writer, preacher and inventor. In the 1920s, he was commissioned to collect traditional Aboriginal stories from around South Australia. The stories were published in 1930 as Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, but the author of the work was given as W. Ramsay Smith, FRS, anthropologist and Chief Medical Officer of South Australia. Unaipon’s name does not appear anywhere in the work, except where he is mentioned in passing as a ‘narrator’. In this publication the editors restore David Unaipon to his rightful place as the first Indigenous Australian author of a major book. For his contributions to science, literature and the improvement of conditions for Indigenous Australians, Unaipon is featured on our $50 note.