Indigenous rights champion Lowitja O’Donoghue to be farewelled at state funeral today
A state funeral will be held today at North Adelaide to celebrate the life and mark the loss of Aboriginal rights trailblazer Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG.
Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue will be farewelled at a state funeral today. Photo supplied
The Yankunytjatjara woman, who played a key role in the 1967 referendum, lobbied the Keating government to recognise Indigenous land ownership through native title laws and advised on the apology to the stolen generation, will be remembered at the ceremony at St Peter’s Cathedral from 1pm.
O’Donoghue died on February 4 aged 91 on Kaurna Country in Adelaide with her immediate family by her side.
O’Donoghue was born at Indulkana on the APY Lands in South Australia’s Far North in 1932, but at age two was sent to a children’s home at Quorn.
In 1954 she became the first Aboriginal nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. She gained prominence after becoming the first Aboriginal person to train as a nurse at Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1954.
After being denied the opportunity because of her Indigenous heritage, she successfully lobbied then-premier Thomas Playford to win her right to admission, setting her on a lifelong path of fighting for equality.
In the 60s O’Donoghue joined the SA branch of the federal Office of Aboriginal Affairs. She also was a member of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement before being appointed Regional Director of the SA Department of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.
She campaigned for the 1967 referendum which changed the constitution to count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the population.
O’Donoghue’s continued advocacy and leadership was recognised when she was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1977, received the Advance Australia award in 1982, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1983, and in 1984 was named Australian of the Year.
In 1990, O’Donoghue was appointed inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, playing a pivotal role in negotiations with the Keating Labor Government which led to recognising Aboriginal land ownership through the Native Title Act.
In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd sought O’Donoghue’s advice on his Apology to the Stolen Generations, while Australia’s national institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research is named in her honour and a non-profit Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation was set up in 2022 to continue her legacy.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Dr O’Donoghue as one of the most remarkable leaders the country had known.
“Dr O’Donoghue had an abiding faith in the possibility of a more united and reconciled Australia,” he said.
– with AAP
