By Helen Musa

If there’s one thing likely to inspire patriotic enthusiasm in a wide range of Australians, it’s our exceptional talent for invention.

From the baby capsule to the Hills Hoist, from spray-on skin to Aerogard, Australians have long shown a knack for solving problems in ways that travel far beyond our shores. 

It is this spirit that animates In Real Life: inventors, innovators and opportunists at the National Archives of Australia, an exhibition that traces a sometimes-surprising history of ingenuity, stretching from First Nations creativity through 150 years of patents, trademarks and design registrations held by the Archives.

Walking through the exhibition with curator Lucie Shawcross, the experience feels less like reading history and more like opening a cabinet of curiosities, which is how the show opens, as cupboards in the entrance reveal familiar objects such as Coca-Cola bottles and Australian toys not unlike Meccano, also inviting visitors to test their powers of recognition. For instance, what colours do Milo or Auspost conjure up? 

As Shawcross points out, intellectual property is woven into daily life, from the chair you sit on to the shape of your breakfast cereal, and even the colours we instinctively associate with brands. 

Nostalgia plays its part, too, with objects such as Tupperware sparking memories.

Behind the scenes lies the vast archival record, shelves of patents and trademarks that must somehow be brought to life, leading curators to pair paper trails with physical objects wherever possible, sometimes easily, sometimes with difficulty. 

The result is a canny mix of documentation and design. 

Daily talks and related events add further depth, as with the recent screening of Ablaze, the film about the pioneering Aboriginal filmmaker and activist Bill Onus, co-directed by his opera singer grandson, Tiriki Onus.

The exhibition does not shy away from the more curious personalities of invention either, such as Myra Farrell, a self-styled “inventress” who dreamed up solutions in her sleep. Her more than two dozen patented inventions included the step-in corset and the bullet proof fence.

These sit alongside stories of legal battles, including Louisa Lawson’s successful defence of her patent rights against Edward Nicol Murray, one of the “opportunists” in the show’s title, for infringing upon her patent for a combination buckle and fastener for mailbags.

Some inventions are globally celebrated, such as the Cochlear implant and Fiona Wood’s spray-on skin, while others are now everyday, such as the dual-flush toilet, aerosol technology linked to Doug Waterhouse’s CSIRO research and reputedly tested on the Queen during her 1963 Royal Visit.

The display of the baby capsule invented in 1984 by Colin Michael Nagel and Robert Boyson Heath, plainly resonates with people who remember the bad old days when babies in baskets sat on the back seat. 

There’s an interactive section where kids are invited to sit on “Ned Kelly stools” that look like Ned’s helmet while they design their own dream machines – examples pinned to the walls include a flying skateboard.

Nearby, familiar objects such as the ubiquitous Sebel chair remind us that great design often hides in plain sight.

Another fun part of the exhibition is a wall of trademarks, demonstrating Australians fascination with animal motifs – elephants, lions and dogs abound and there’s even a cockroach. As well, snake oil products such as Wizard Oil and Professor Michael Green’s Herbal Sight Restorer have pride of place.

For the sports minded, there’s Warren Berkery’s “stump-cam” allowing photos from inside the cricket pitch, and thermoplastic polyurethane Scoot Boots, designed by a Tasmanian farrier specifically for barefoot horses to facilitate natural movement across all terrains, and still popular.

All of this energy will spill outdoors on May 9, when the National Archives hosts a community picnic as what they call a final hurrah for the exhibition.

Visitors are invited to bring their rugs and settle in for a day of cricket, balloon crafting, fairy floss and a barbecue, alongside indoor activities such as Arnott’s biscuit decorating, windsock making and a chance to explore the inventions on display.

 A brick-building competition and a screening of The Lego Movie will reinforce the exhibition’s central idea, that invention is not just history, but something playful, and proudly Australian.

In Real Life: inventors, innovators and opportunists, National Archives of Australia, Kings Avenue, Parkes, until May 17; community day May 9, all welcome.