David Unaipon

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David Unaipon (28 September 1872 – 7 February 1967) was an Aboriginal Australian author, inventor, and preacher. Born at the Point McLeay Mission in South Australia, he was the son of the Ngarrindjeri preacher James Ngunaitponi and his wife, Nymbulda. Unaipon became a well-known public speaker and spent much of his life touring Australia to speak at schools and churches about Aboriginal culture. He was also an inventor, registering 10 patents between 1909 and 1944. Unaipon authored a large body of essays and stories, many of which were based on oral traditions that he had gathered from Aboriginal communities across Australia. He published his writing in newspapers and in pamphlets that he sold to fund his speaking tours. In 1925 he authored a book-length manuscript that he titled Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines. Unaipon sold the copyright for the manuscript to the publisher Angus & Robertson, which led to its appropriation by the anthropologist William Ramsay Smith. The manuscript was published in 1930 under Ramsay Smith's name with no mention of Unaipon's authorship; it was not until 2001 that the book was first published under Unaipon's name. During the late 1920s Unaipon was regarded as one of the best-known Aboriginal people in Australia and was often called upon by the Australian government to act as the sole spokesperson for the country's Indigenous population. A devout Christian and strong advocate for missionary efforts, Unaipon was a supporter of assimilationist policies and clashed with more progressive Aboriginal activists in his later life. Since 1995 Unaipon has featured on the Australian $50 note.