Australian Sound Inventions
Australia produced several ground-breaking audio and sound technology inventors during the early part of the 20th century. Phonographs and gramophones were the new toys, but public demand for better sound quality for classical music inspired Australian inventors to vastly improve the reproduction of sound.
Here are some of the most notable innovators of those early years:
- 1909: Max Wurcker, an Edison jobber in Sydney, constructed a reproducer to play two-minute wax cylinders on the Edison Phonograph.
- 1912: Frederick James Empson from Sydney patented a sound controlling device called the Graduola.
- 1922: Noel Pemberton Billing from London invented the very first long-playing record. He emigrated to Australia in 1923, bringing his invention with him.
- 1925: Eric Waterworth of Hobart invented the world’s very first record changer.
