05/02/2024
Lowitja O'Donoghue passed away yesterday at home in Adelaide, aged 91.
She was dedicated to improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including working on the 1967 referendum, lobbying the Keating government to recognise Indigenous land ownership through the native title laws and advising on the apology to the stolen generation.
She was the first Aboriginal person to train as a nurse at Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1954, an opportunity which was initially denied to her because of her heritage.
Her niece speaks for many when she said, "We thank and honour her for all that she has done - for all the pathways she created, for all the doors she opened, for all the issues she tackled head on, for all the tables she sat at and for all the arguments she fought and won."
RIP Lowitja O'Donoghue. May your vision of a fairer Australia be realised.
https://bit.ly/48Yilov
