Good morning, we are back with Tony Robinson and Time Travels. This time he looks at inventions and how they changed history. Who invented the light bulb? How did one soldier invent a gun? How did one desert change tea time? What did one man do to bring fresh water to a growing community that needed it? Was the first airplane created in Australia? Tony starts up in Lithgow. When the Australians and their states joined together they started forming their defenses for the nation, they had to come up with ways to defend themselves. They did not want to buy weapons from Britain. In 1899, the Australians went off to the Boar War. The Lithgow Small Farms factory was created.
Tony discovers the Owen Gun. The gun was invented by an Australian during World War I in a soldier’s backyard. The British government balked at the gun, and the soldier was sent to the front lines. A neighbor discovered the gun, recognized its genius, and the soldier was recalled back. The gun was then manufactured and it went off to war. The Owen gun was reliable and was loved by the soldiers. At the end of the war, 45,000 guns were produced. Only 120 guns remain. The next invention Tony discovers is the Perth Pipeline. Boulder Kalgoorlie, an Australian city, sprung up after gold was discovered. The population of West Australia moved there. Unfortunately, after the miners dug the gold, they were struck down with an illness. There was no fresh water available. CY O’Connor was charged with fixing the water crisis. His solution was the longest freshwater pipeline that the world had ever seen. Two dams were built to help push the water up to Kalgoorlie. After years of conflict and building, Kalgoorlie has fresh water. Tony then heads to London and explores the lightbulb. The lightbulb proved to be a bit of a challenge to invent. The light did not last long. Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan eventually came up with a solution. The problem was that they came up with the same solution at the same time. Edison and Swan would eventually create a company to avoid a protracted court battle. Professor Ambrose Fleming was eventually called in to figure out why the lightbulbs went dark. The diode valve was invented to prevent this. It was the first time that the electrons could be controlled. In 1901, the Lamington Cake was invented. It was a culinary invention that revolutionized high tea. It was invented in Australia. It was named after Lord Lamington and he was a governor in Australia. It used coconut and vanilla sponge. The people went wild for the cake. Lord Lamington was not impressed with the desert. The last invention Tony looks at is the Airplane. Australia is a huge island with communities isolated from each other. Even today with roads, the communities are still isolated. What solution could happen to help people move between communities? The Solution was the airplane. Tony meets up with a recreating group to recreate Australia’s first flight. This flight happened at the Dungians' property. Two brothers built a plane based on postcards. It was the first man-made plane built in Australia. Will this recreation be successful? Tune into this documentary to find out! This was a cool episode to watch and learn about the different inventions. I would show the section on Thomas Edison and the Lightbulb in a history class. Absolute History channel divided the documentary into separate sections for easy finding. Apart from the Lamington Cake section, this would be a good episode to show for STEM and STEAM classes.
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