Born in Ndulkana, Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue AC CBE DSG was a member of the Stolen Generations and was taken away from her mother at the age of two. O'Donoghue and her two sisters were taken to Colebrook Children's Home in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. At sixteen, she left the Home and began working as a domestic servant. Unhappy with domestic service after two years, O'Donoghue began a nursing traineeship. The money she had accumulated in her trust fund while working as a domestic servant was going to be used for purchasing her uniforms but she was denied access.
O'Donoghue experienced discrimination in many forms during her training to be a nurse. She joined the Aborigines Advancement League to lobby for change and eventually gained entry to begin training as a nurse at Royal Adelaide Hospital, where, despite the racial discrimination at the time, she reached the position of Charge sister.
On numerous occasions the Protector of Aborigines contacted her, offering her exemption from being classified as Aboriginal, which she declined. In 1960, O'Donoghue decided to travel and left for India with the Baptist Overseas Mission where she worked with the Mother Theresa program. It was also there that her ambition to be reunited with her mother was realised. In 1962, she returned to Australia and was eventually reunited with her mother, and worked as a trained nurse and welfare officer in remote Aboriginal communities. It was during her 10 years in this work that she built a reputation for her ability to advocate for Indigenous justice.
According to The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership (2014), 'From 1975 to 1979, she held the senior position of regional Director of the office for South Australia - the first woman to be a regional director of a federal department - and was responsible for the local implementation of national Aboriginal welfare policy.'
During the 1990s, she became involved in several organisations working toward the advancement of Aboriginal rights, and chaired the Aboriginal Hostels Limited, the Aboriginal Development Commission and the National Aboriginal Congress.
In 2000, Lowitja played a key advisory role as chairperson of the Sydney Olympic Games National Indigenous Advisory Committee and carried the Olympic torch through Uluru during the Australian leg of the Olympic Torch Relay. In 2008, Lowitja provided counsel to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd regarding the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. She was chosen as one of 150 great South Australians by a panel of The Advertiser senior writers to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of The Advertiser newspaper, 12 April 2008. In 2017, she, along with Tom Calma and Galarrwuy Yunupingu, was included in Australia Post's 'Indigenous Leaders' series of stamps, part of the 2017 Legends Commemorative Stamps series.
During her career she had received many awards in recognition of her dedication and as an advocate of reconciliation and Aboriginal rights. In 2009, O'Donoghue received the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award, and 'was declared an Australian National Living Treasure in 1998. ... In 1977 was the first Aboriginal woman to be award the AO, and received a CBE, an AC and honorary doctorates from universities around Australia' (Standish, 2014), including Murdoch University, the University of South Australia, Australian National University, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), University of Adelaide, and Flinders University, where she was also a visiting Fellow.
The annual Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration has been held at the Don Dunstan Foundation since her inaugural oration in 2007: each orator is chosen by O'Donoghue, and the oration takes place in Reconciliation Week. She was also patron of the Lowitja Institute, a research institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and well being.
Sources:
http://www.naidoc.org.au/ (Sighted 14 July 2009).
Standish, Anne, 2014 O'Donoghue, Lowitja (Lois) (1932 - ). In The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Available http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0354b.htm (Sighted 24-25 May 2016).
