Revered Indigenous Elder Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue died in Adelaide last week.
Among numerous achievements, O’Donohue was inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and patron of the Lowitja Institute, a research institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing.
She was instrumental in the apology to the Stolen Generation speech by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, as well as a number of milestones in recognition of First Nation’s people, including the constitutional reforms that recognised Indigenous people as Australian citizens.
O’Donoghue was the first Aboriginal woman appointed to the Order of Australia in 1976 and the first Aboriginal person to address the United Nations General Assembly demanding constitutional recognition. She was named Australian of the Year in 1984 and a National Living Treasure in 1998.
My father worked with Dr O’Donoghue when she was a nurse at the Repatriation Hospital and always spoke of her of her with the greatest respect and very much admired her achievements. She will missed but her values and achievements will live on.