Lowitja O'Donoghue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lowitja (Lois) O'Donoghue, AC, CBE, born 1 August 1932, is an Aboriginal Australian health worker and public administrator. She was Australian of the Year in 1984 and in 1990 became the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).

O'Donoghue was born at Granite Downs Station in what is now known as Indulkana, South Australia, on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands in north western South Australia. Her mother was Lily (no surname) a Yankunytjatjara woman and her father was Tom O'Donoghue, a white (Irish) station manager. O'Donoghue never knew her father. At the age of two, she allegedly became part of the so-called 'Stolen Generations', when she was taken away from her mother,^[1] whom she was not to see for another 33 years. O'Donoghue spent a great deal of time in that period searching for her family. This version of events has been disputed by commentator Andrew Bolt,^[2] because O'Donoghue and five siblings were handed to authorities by their father.

After a long struggle to win admission to a training hospital, O'Donoghue became the first Aboriginal nurse in South Australia. Later, she became more involved in activism for Aboriginal rights. In 1976, O'Donoghue was the first Aboriginal woman to be inducted into the Order of Australia.^[3]

She 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 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. O'Donoghue was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1999.

[edit] External links

Preceded by Robert de Castella	Australian of the Year 1984	Succeeded by Paul Hogan

This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.