Dr Lowitja [Lois] O'Donoghue AM, CBE, DSG
1 August 1932 - 4 February 2024
  
Nurse, Australian Public Administrator, Indigenous Rights Advocate

(Source: Wikipedia)

Introduction

Professor Lowitja O’Donoghue AM CBE was born in 1932 at Indulkana in South Australia of Pitjantjatjara and Irish descent. She was born Lois O'Donoghue and is an Aboriginal Australian retired public administrator.

She was Australian of the Year in 1984, the first and only Aboriginal Australian to address the UN General Assembly, for seven years the most senior Aboriginal person in public office and a delegate to Australia’s 1998 Constitutional Republic Convention.

Following her retirement, she formally added the name "Lowitja" to her existing legal name, Lois O'Donoghue Smart, to emphasise her Luritjan heritage.

O'Donoghue was the inaugural patron and namesake of the Lowitja Institute, a research institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing established in 2010, which in 2022 established the Lowitja O'Donoghue Foundation.

Early Life

When she was two years old, she and two of her sisters were taken away from their mother by missionaries on behalf of the Aboriginal Protection Board. The girls grew up at Colebrook Children’s Home and did not see their mother again for over 30 years.

At the home, her Aboriginal name, Lowitja, was changed to ‘Lois’. She wasn’t allowed to speak her own language or to ask questions about her origins or about her parents. The home became her family. She remembers Colebrook as ‘a very spartan place’ run by two maiden missionary ladies.

Education

She attended Unley General Technical High School before starting training as a nurse in a small coastal hospital in South Australia.

After initial training, she was refused entry to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to continue her studies, because she was Aboriginal. This led to her active involvement with the Aboriginal Advancement League, joining with other Aboriginal people, trade unions and churches to agitate for the rights of Aboriginal people to enter professions and take up apprenticeships. She fought the decision and in 1954 became the first Aboriginal trainee nurse at the Royal Adelaide. She graduated and became a Charge Sister at the hospital, where she stayed for ten years.

Work

From 1950–53 O'Donoghue worked as a nursing aide in Victor Harbor. The small hospital did not run a comprehensive training course, so with the strong support and assistance of the Matron, she applied to be a student nurse in Adelaide. After a long struggle to win admission to a training hospital, she became the first Aboriginal nurse in South Australia.

The Royal Adelaide Hospital policy at that time was to only take nursing students who had obtained their Leaving Certificate so initially they would not consider taking her. Fortunately the Hospital shortly afterwards introduced a scheme to allow deserving students to be accepted without the necessary educational qualifications.

In 1954, she was in the first intake of unqualified students to attend the Royal Adelaide Hospital which offered good nursing career prospects. She qualified as a nurse and worked at the Royal Adelaide until 1961, being appointed a charge nurse just before leaving.

After returning in 1962, she worked as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer with the South Australian Department of Education. She later transferred to the SA Department of Aboriginal Affairs and was employed as a Welfare Officer based mainly in the north of the state, in particular at Coober Pedy, some 200 kilometres south of her birthplace.

Did You Know? Lowitja O'Donoghue's Life ABC Late Night Live - 20 mins audio file Broadcast Tue 3 Nov 2020 at 10:40pm Prominent Australian Aborigine Lowitja O'Donoghue, left, and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd talk after Rudd delivered an official apology, at Parliament House in Canberra, Feb. 13, 2008, to its indigenous people for past treatment that "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss."  (Gary Ramage/Pool Photo via AP, File)

In 1975 she became the director of the South Australian region of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Two years later, she was a founding member of the National Aboriginal Conference. Lowitja O’Donoghue was named Australian of the Year in 1985 in recognition of ‘her enormous personal contribution in bridging the cultural gap between Aboriginal people and the rest of the Australian Community’. She believed the award highlighted the fight for Aboriginal equality:

We are all here now and we have to solve our differences and live together as Australians.

She concluded her acceptance speech by saying:

I will use the title you have honoured me with to bring Australian people together. Together we can build a remarkable country, the envy of the rest of the world.

In 1990 she was appointed as inaugural chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), advising government on policy and managing a budget of a billion dollars a year - a position she held until 1996. O’Donoghue played a key role in major policy initiatives that followed, including the formation of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, legislation on Native Title and the framing of a comprehensive social justice package. On Reconciliation she said:

We have a long way to go but there is no turning back. For indigenous Australians, the acid test of reconciliation will be improved health, better housing, education and employment. Reconciliation is the way of the future, our shared future in which Australia is united as one people with many rich cultures and a commitment to justice and equity.

In 1991, she, along with Alf Bamblett and Steve Gordon, became the Aboriginal people to attend a Cabinet meeting. Ms O'Donoghue used this occasion to put ATSIC's position forward with regard to the government's response to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

In December 1992, O'Donoghue became the first Aboriginal Australian to address the United Nations General Assembly during the launch of the United Nations International Year of Indigenous People. She was replaced as Chairperson by Gatjil Djerrkura, who was considered by the Howard Government to be more moderate.

Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue worked at the Department of Aboriginal Affairs during the 1970s
(Source: ABC News)

Opportunities & Experiences

In the mid 1960s Lois went to Assam in India to work with the Baptist Overseas Mission. She returned to Australia and after the Referendum in 1967 which recognised Aboriginal people as full and equal citizens joined the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. She accepted a position in Coober Pedy where an aunt and uncle, noticing the family resemblance, recognised her in a local supermarket. They told her that her mother, Lily, was at Oodnadatta. They sent word to her mother that Lois would visit her.

Work delayed Lois for three months. Every day for those three months her mother stood on the road, from dawn to dusk, waiting for her. When Lois and her older sister, Eileen, finally made the trip, their mother was too ashamed of her living conditions to welcome them into her ‘humpy’. They stayed at a hotel. Even more tragically, they could not communicate in their language, Pitjantjatjara, without an interpreter.

Marriage

In 1979, she married Gordon Smart, a medical orderly at the Adelaide Repatriation Hospital whom she had first met in 1964; he died in 1991. They had no children.

Lowitja O'Donoghue at her 1979 wedding to Gordon Smart
(Source: The Guardian)

Awards

Professor Lowitja O’Donoghue has received many accolades. As well as being Australian of the Year in 1984, she was named a National Living Treasure in 1998, won the Advance Australia award in 1982, was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in 1977, a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1983, and a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1999.

She was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Nursing. She also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the Australian National and Notre Dame Universities, and is a Doctor of Flinders University, the ANU, the University of South Australia and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She has been a Professorial Fellow at Flinders University since 2000.

In summary:

•  In 1976, Ms O'Donoghue was the first Aboriginal woman to be inducted into the new Order of Australia founded by the Labor Australian Commonwealth Government. The award was in recognition of her work in the welfare field.

•  Lowitja O'Donoghue was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1983, and was named Australian of the Year in 1984, for her work to improve the welfare of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

•  She was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) on 26 January 1999.

•  O'Donoghue received honorary doctorates from Murdoch University, the University of South Australia, the Australian National University, the Queensland University of Technology and Flinders University. In 2000 she was made an honorary professorial fellow at Flinders University and was a visiting fellow at Flinders University.

•  She is a National Patron at the The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre and was inducted into the Olympic Order in 2000.

•  In 2005 O'Donoghue was made Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great [DSG] by Pope John Paul II.

AI Overview

Dr. Lowitja O'Donoghue AC CBE DSG (1932–2024) was a Yankunytjatjara woman recognized as one of Australia's most influential Indigenous leaders, a pioneering public administrator, and a tireless advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights. She was known for her grace, moral clarity, and extraordinary inner strength, often described as a "rock" that stood firm in the face of adversity.

Key attributes and leadership qualities of Dr. Lowitja O'Donoghue include:

• Formidable Leadership and Advocacy

• Fearless and Tenacious: She was described as a courageous leader who was never afraid to speak, act, or challenge the status quo.

• Consensus Builder: A highly skilled negotiator, she was able to bring together opposing parties to reach agreements, particularly during the complex Mabo Native Title debates.

• Strategic Visionary: She focused on practical, long-term outcomes for Indigenous health, housing, education, and employment.

• Trailblazer: As the first Aboriginal person to train as a nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the first to address the UN General Assembly, and the first to head the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), she broke significant barriers.

Personal Character and Principles

• Resilient and Strong: Taken from her family at age two, she overcame her upbringing in the Stolen Generation to become a powerful, loving leader.

• "Twice as Good" Advocate: She was recognized for working twice as hard to achieve recognition and results, embodying immense grace and fortitude.

• Persuasive and Charming: Known for her ability to influence politicians across the spectrum, she combined a "cheeky," warm personality with a firm, uncompromising stance on rights.

• Dedicated to Unity: She believed in a shared future for Australia, aiming for a nation united with a commitment to justice and equity.

Dr. O'Donoghue passed away in 2024, leaving a legacy of "grace and moral clarity" that continues to inspire Indigenous advancement.

Links

The Conversation 6 February 2024	The Conversation 5 February 2024
The Lowitja Institute	The National Portrait Gallery
Obituaries Australia	State Library of SA
Other resources: * ABC News - 5 February 2024 * Australian of the Year - 1984 * NAIDOC * Britannica * Wikipedia * SBS News - 4 February 2024 * National Library of Australia - Papers of Lowitja O'Donoghue, 1940 - 2013	* Prime Minister of Australia - 4 February 2024 * The Guardian - 4 February 2024 * National Archives of Australia * Web Archive - Univ of Melbourne PDF * Student Union - Uni of Melb - Book Review * National Film & Sound Archive of Australia - Australia Biography _ Women

YouTube: Portrait Story | Lowitja O'Donoghue by Robert Hannaford
https://youtu.be/IyaRY4M7Oj0?si=FN9rybqhH5AxFoIV




YouTube: Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG Tribute Video
https://youtu.be/wVgfxgpyCV4?si=Y-Kk2fiP0hpxBw72




YouTube: Indigenous trailblazer Lowitja O'Donoghue dies aged 91 | 7.30 ABC
https://youtu.be/QOWv-0T3dz8?si=QS_JIpIE2Dl9-7sn




YouTube: Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue. Australian Biography 3. (27 mins) National Film and Sound Archive
https://youtu.be/sq9GE12aKUU?si=8sesm0Y6BkR9SJEP




YouTube: Indigenous Leader Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue Dies Aged 91
https://youtu.be/mSs-yNIMXns?si=xDbxlV8tAkJJAr4-

"As a young woman, Lowitja O'Donoghue was told she'd amount to nothing" - a Community of Inquiry

Teacher

The information about how to conduct a Community of Inquiry is here. It is very important that you, as the teacher, follow the procedures to gain the most out of this lesson.

You will need to photocopy this Word document taken directly from the Sydney Morning Herald in October 2020 and written by Prof. Robert Manne, so there are enough copies for 2 - 3 students to share.

Time: 2 - 3 Lessons of 45 mins each

Subjects targeted: Social Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Ethics

Local copy of stimulus material: SMH 9 October 2020: "As a young woman, Lowitja O'Donoghue was told she'd amount to nothing"

Students

1. As a whole class, you are to create a circle including your teacher. You are going to conduct a Community of Inquiry using the following article from the SMH by Professor Robert Manne on 9 October 2020 - 3 years and a couple of months before Lowitja's death in February 2024.

2. Take it in turns to read one paragraph of this local copy of the SMH article: Word Document.

3. In pairs, consider the stimulus material (SMH article) and write two questions in each quadrant.