KERRY O'BRIEN: A man the press once described as Australia's own Leonardo da Vinci, David Unaipon -- philosopher, author, scientist and inventor - has inspired the celebrated Bangarra Dance Theatre to create their first biographical work.
David Unaipon secured a unique place in Australian history, from the early 1900s up until his death in 1967, after inventing a new hand-held sheep shear, becoming the first Aboriginal author to be published and fighting for the rights and recognition of his people in the early 20th Century.
Over time, his achievements have largely faded from public memory, despite his image being seen across Australia every day on the $50 note.
But Bangarra, known internationally for its blend of contemporary dance with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, is now touring with its first biographical work, Unaipon.
Kathy Swan reports.
FRANCES RINGS, CHOREOGRAPHER: It's about his passions.
It's about, you know, the essence of this man -- what inspired him, what he was passionate about.
KATHY SWAN; David Unaipon was passionate about science, philosophy, writing, the rights of his people and religion.
FRANCES RING: In the Bible, it gave him solace because in God's eyes, all men were equal.
They were not judged by the colour of their skin, and I think that gave him a lot of strength, you know, when there were difficulty periods of his life.
KATHY SWAN; He was described in the press of the early 1900s as an Aboriginal genius, and Australia's Leonardo da Vinci.
But David Unaipon is no longer a household name, despite being seen every day.
STEPHEN PAGE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: It's that thing of re-educating, I think.
Even though, you know, Mr Unaipon is on our $50 note, it wasn't part of my history at school.
And so, I think, this just really consciously awakens this awareness of great Australians, but also a great indigenous leader.
KATHY SWAN; A voice for his people from the early 1900s up to his death in 1967, David Unaipon was also an inventor, who lacked the funds to keep up the patents on his inventions -- among them, this revolutionary hand-held sheep shear.
MARY-ANNE GALE, RESEARCH FELLOW, SA UNIVERSITY: David Unaipon is mostly known for his inventions, I think, because they have the hand piece model, the diagram on the $50 note.
But he was far more than that, even though that's what drove him, and his passion was his inventions and solving a perpetual motion, but he was also a great advocate for his people.
MELISSA JACKSON, STATE LIBRARY OF NSW: What David did in his time was prove to the community at large that Aboriginal people were able to learn, were able to be useful citizens in Australia.
KATHY SWAN; Unaipon's life story leapt from history to theatre after inspiring Bangarra Dance Theatre dancer and choreographer Francis Rings FRANCES RING: It was a difficult process because, you know, as I said, he was, you know, there was so much to this man.
STEPHEN PAGE: Before, Bangarra's previous works have been always inspired by, I suppose, land and human and creature, and the more sort of spiritual journeys.
KATHY SWAN; David Unaipon's journey was invention and science, and his obsession -- perpetual motion, conjuring a machine that could self-sustain, propelling itself for ever.
It's a notion that remains in the realms of fiction, but here, it lives on stage, underscoring Bangarra's presentation of a remarkable life.
FRANCES RING: The wonderful thing with working with these formulas is that we've come back to the humanity of dance.
We are working with weight and we are not trying to make things look effortless.
MARY-ANNE GALE: The solving of the problem of perpetual motion was an absolute lifelong passion for David Unaipon.
It was a burning passion of his right through till the time he died.
In fact, I think that's what motivated him to write because he needed money to develop his inventions.
KATHY SWAN; David Unaipon wrote about Aboriginal myths and legends, presenting a culture white Australia had not then acknowledged.
Stories he sold to publishers Angus and Robertson through the 1920s were published in a book in 1930, but not in his name.
MELISSA JACKSON: He was definitely under the impression that the book was going to be published in his name.
He sent a preface, he sent a beautiful photograph of himself, and so he definitely thought it was in his name.
I don't think David was aware that his work was sold off, and published by William Ramsey Smith.
KATHY SWAN; Arguably, Unaipon may have had a more readily evident place in history if his writing had not be appropriated by Adelaide city coroner William Ramsey Smith.
Smith was something of an amateur anthropologist and took Unaipon's work for his own.
MARY-ANNE GALE: When David originally wrote the text, he wrote some of them in the first person.
So, Ramsay Smith was very careful to cut that out so that it was written in the third person, as if he was the anthropologist going out there, collecting stories from the Aboriginal people.
KATHY SWAN; The book 'Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigine' was finally published under Unaipon's name in 2001, but another version, bearing Ramsay Smith's name, was republished by an overseas publisher just last year.
MARY-ANNE GALE: Anything that comes out now that includes David Unaipon's work should be coming out in his name, so I really don't understand how even legally or morally they've brought anything out since that without acknowledging who wrote the original texts.
KATHY SWAN; It's a turn of events David Unaipon night have found unfair, but not unusual.
FRANCES RING: I think he was a very tenacious man.
He walked in a country that - it was an indominable landscape.
Not many people had, you know, walked that line between the two worlds.
It would have been a really difficulty time for him.
I think it was just blessed with just having a strong spirit.
KERRY O'BRIEN: The Bangarra Dance Company will perform 'Unaipon' in Melbourne until June 19, then in Sydney from June 25.
Kathy Swan with that report.