Warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: This story contains images and references to a deceased person.
Indigenous leader Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue has died, aged 91, after a long career as a nurse, administrator, founding chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and patron of the institute that bears her name and is dedicated to improving the health of First Australians.
O’Donoghue died peacefully on Sunday on Kaurna land in Adelaide, with her family by her side, niece Deb Edwards said in a statement.
Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue has died aged 91.Credit: Leanne King
Born in 1932 and removed from her mother at the age of two, O’Donoghue became one of Australia’s most significant public policy leaders.
She was named a member of the Order of Australia in 1976, the Australian of the Year in 1984, a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1983 and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1999, as well as receiving honorary doctorates from six universities. As a republican, she turned down an offer to become governor-general.
“We thank her for being a formidable leader who was never afraid to listen, speak and act,” Edwards said in the statement on Sunday as spokesperson for the family and the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation.
“She was admired and respected universally, sought after to meet with dignitaries of the highest standing from all over the world, whilst being equally loved in her own nation.”
O’Donoghue was raised by Christian missionaries in regional South Australia before attending Unley High School in Adelaide and becoming a nurse. She did not see her mother again for 33 years.
“I was a rebellious child,” she told this masthead in 2014.
“I spoke out, wanted to know who I was, where my mother was. The matron told me almost every week that I would not make anything of my life, that I wasn’t any good.”
She qualified as a nurse in the late 1950s, worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and spent time as a nurse in India before returning to Australia and rising through the South Australian government to become director of the state’s department of Aboriginal affairs.
Lowitja O’Donoghue and then-prime minister Kevin Rudd after he delivered the official apology to the stolen generations in 2008.Credit: Gary Ramage
O’Donoghue was the founding chair of ATSIC in 1990 and led the organisation until 1996. She addressed the United Nations General Assembly in 1992, becoming the first Aboriginal Australian to do so, and was approached to become governor-general.
“It is well known that she once turned down the governor-generalship,” her friend and fellow Indigenous leader Pat Anderson said in 2014. “Paul Keating offered it to her in 1995 but she told him she was a republican.”
O’Donoghue as a nurse in the 1960s.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said O’Donoghue had worked across the political spectrum for almost 60 years.
“She dedicated her life to improving the lives of Indigenous Australians and deserves our deepest respect and gratitude,” Burney said.
“She was central to some of the country’s most historic moments in Indigenous affairs, from the 1967 referendum [to recognise Indigenous people in the Australian population] to the Native Title legislation in 1993 and the National Apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described O’Donoghue as a figure of grace and moral clarity.
“She was like a rock that stood firm in the storm – sometimes even staring down the storm,” he said in a statement.
“More than anything, she was of the great rocks around which the river of our history gently bent, persuaded to flow along a better course.”
The Coalition’s leader in the Senate, South Australian Liberal senator Simon Birmingham, said O’Donoghue was a leader whose “intellect, thoughtfulness and humility shone through” in her achievements.
“A trailblazer and advocate, she broke down barriers at both a personal and policy level,” he said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said O’Donoghue would be remembered for advancing recognition, furthering the cause of reconciliation and fighting for Indigenous rights and representation.
“Lowitja O’Donoghue was a nurse, public servant and Indigenous leader. But her life was defined by giving back to those around her and those far away who followed her lead,” he said.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said O’Donoghue dedicated her life to the service of others, and he would approach the family to offer a state funeral.
On behalf of the O’Donoghue family, Edwards said many would feel a deep loss upon the news of her passing.
“There will only ever be one Lowitja O’Donoghue. She who always believed that, ‘we shall overcome some day’,” Edwards said.
“Thank you, aunty, you are home now, eternally safe in the arms of your family and beloved husband Gordon, who have been waiting for you in spirit. You are forever and always in our hearts.”
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