Aboriginal icon dies aged 91

1 year ago 91

Revered Aboriginal rights activistic Lowitja O’Donoghue has died aged 91, surrounded by family.

The Yankunytatjara pistillate and erstwhile Australian of the Year championed the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In a statement, her household said she died peacefully connected Kaurna Country successful Adelaide.

“Our Aunty and Nana was the Matriarch of our family, whom we person loved and looked up to our full lives,” they said.

“We adored and admired her erstwhile we were young and person grown up afloat of never-ending pridefulness arsenic she became 1 of the astir respected and influential Aboriginal leaders this state has ever known.”

The household said her bequest would proceed done the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation, which was created connected her 90th birthday.

“Aunty Lowitja dedicated her full beingness of enactment to the rights, health, and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” they said.

“We convey and honour her for each that she has done — for each the pathways she created, for each the doors she opened, for each the issues she tackled head-on, for each the tables she sat astatine and for each the arguments she fought and won.”

Dr O’Donoghue’s parent was Indigenous and her begetter was a pastoralist astatine De Rose Hill successful South Australia.

At the property of two, she and her 2 sisters were taken from their mother.

She grew up astatine the Colebrook Children’s Home successful Quorn and did not reunite with her parent until 3 decades later.

In 1992, Dr O’Donoghue became the archetypal Australian Aboriginal idiosyncratic to code the United Nations General Assembly, calling for “the Australian constitution (to) beryllium changed to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander radical arsenic the continent’s archetypal inhabitants”.

She was progressive successful negotiations with past premier curate Paul Keating successful 1993 to make Australia’s Native Title authorities successful pursuing the Mabo High Court decision.

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