Lowitja O'Donoghue
| Lowitja O'Donoghue | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Lois O'Donoghue 1 August 1932 Indulkana, South Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Other names | Lois Smart |
| Known for | Public service |
| Spouse(s) | Gordon Smart (deceased) |
Lowitja Lois O'Donoghue Smart, AC, CBE, DSG (born Lois O'Donoghue; 1 August 1932) is an Aboriginal Australian retired public administrator. In 1990-1996 she was the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (dismantled in 2004).
Lois O'Donoghue was born in 1932 in the remote Aboriginal community of Indulkana, the fifth of six children of the common-law marriage of Tom and Lily O'Donoghue. Her father was a stockman of Irish Australian descent and her mother was a member of the Pitjantjatjara aboriginal tribe of northwest South Australia. After living at Everard Park, where they had two children, the O'Donoghues moved in 1925 to Granite Downs, a large cattle property bordering the east of the Stuart Highway in the north of South Australia.
Their four youngest children were born here, including Lois on 1 August 1932, who was baptised by a pastor from the United Aborigines' Mission. Her parents were concerned for the welfare and education of their children in such an isolated location as Granite Downs where there was no school, and at an early age the children were taken by their parents to the United Aborigines' Mission in Oodnadatta run by the Baptists. From here they were moved to the recently opened Colebrook Home in Quorn run by the Mission.
In 1979 she married Gordon Smart, a medical orderly at the Repatriation Hospital whom she had first met in 1964. He died in 1992. They had no children. Following her retirement, she formally added the name Lowitja (an Aboriginal phonetic adaptation of her given name Lois) to her existing legal name, Lois O'Donoghue Smart, to emphasize her Luritjan Aboriginal heritage.
...
Wikipedia