A little bit about her Early life

Lowitja was the fifth of six children born to an Irish father, whom she never knew, and a Yunkunytjatjara mother in Indulkana, an Indigenous community in northwestern South Australia. At age two, O’Donoghue and two of her sisters were taken from her family by the South Australian Aboriginal Protection Board in order to be placed in the Colebrook Children’s Home in Quorn. There, they were raised through a “white” education system, as part of a 60-year-long strategy of Anglo-Australian cultural assimilation. She did not see her mother again for more than 30 years.

At age 16, she was determined to become a nurse. Unfortunately, because of his Indigenous descent, her application to pursue nursing training at the Royal Adelaide Hospital was refused, which fueled her determination to bring an end to this institutionalized racism. She did eventually achieve to join the Aborigines’ Advancement League becoming, in 1954, the first Indigenous trainee nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in its history.

She pursued her work as a nurse in northern India, where she gained a broader perspective on indigenous cultures on the global scheme, realizing that Australian Indigenous people were not “the only people that had been colonised”. This revelation made her more determined than ever to work to change the Australian government’s policies toward Indigenous peoples.

Public Service In australia

In 1967 Lowitja joined the newly established Department of Aboriginal Affairs in the Commonwealth Public Service as a junior administrative officer. In 1970 she was appointed the Director of the Department's office in South Australia, a senior officer position, responsible for the local implementation of national Aboriginal welfare policy. She was responsible for the local implementation of national Aboriginal welfare policy. In 1976, her work to improve the lives of Australia’s Indigenous peoples earned her the distinction of being the first Aboriginal woman to be made a Member of the prestigious Order of Australia (OA).