One of Australia's most celebrated First Nations leaders has been farewelled at a state funeral service in Adelaide. Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue died aged 91 on February 4 surrounded by family on Kaurna country. The Prime Minister today remembered her as a remarkable leader and a passionate advocate for her people. (Warning, includes the name and images of an indigenous person who has died.)
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 In life as in death, Dr. Louisa O'Donoghue was a unifier, capable of bringing people
00:09 together in a relentless pursuit of improving the lives of First Nations people.
00:18 At a state funeral service on Kaurna country in Adelaide, Dr. O'Donoghue was celebrated
00:23 for her compassion and courage.
00:25 It's one of the memory of one of the most remarkable leaders this country has ever known.
00:31 And someone who could be direct with a sense of humour.
00:34 A few years ago when I dyed my hair dark red, she looked at me and said, "Is it staying
00:40 like that?"
00:42 To which I said, "Yes."
00:44 And she said, "Well, I don't like it."
00:46 Dr. O'Donoghue was a survivor of the Stolen Generation and fought discrimination to become
00:51 the first Aboriginal nurse in South Australia.
00:54 Louisa recognised the injustice of being removed from her mother and family.
01:02 And also that the role that the church played in this.
01:07 Yet she found embedded in the Christian faith, the strength to live a Christian life.
01:14 The former Australian of the Year helped create the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
01:18 Commission, was pivotal in negotiating native title legislation and was revered in the hall
01:24 of power.
01:25 I can recall times when we were all quaking in our boots and that includes cabinet ministers.
01:32 Louisa O'Donoghue was the first Australian Aboriginal person to address the UN General
01:36 Assembly where she called for Australia's constitution to be changed to recognise Aboriginal
01:42 and Torres Strait Islander people as the continent's original inhabitants.
01:46 She lived long enough to see her rally cry become a movement and fall short at the ballot
01:51 box.
01:52 It isn't a journey.
01:53 We travel in a straight line.
01:56 But with every step forward we remember it was so often Dr O'Donoghue who led the way.
02:03 A journey carried forward by those she had an impact on.
02:06 I want to thank her for believing in us.
02:11 [END]
02:12 [END]
02:12 [END]