David Unaipon (1872-1967)From Historical Dictionary of Australia
Aboriginal leader, writer, evangelist, and inventor, Unaipon (an anglicized version of his Ngarrindjeri name, Ngunaitponi) was the first indigenous writer to publish in English. From the early 1920s, he studied Aboriginal mythology and compiled his versions of legends, strongly influenced by the classics and by his research into Egyptology at the South Australian Museum. He is commemorated on the Australian $50 bill.