Lowitja

Born to a Yankunjatjara mother and Irish father in the far north-west of South Australia, O'Donoghue was removed from her mother Lily by United Aboriginal Missionaries (UAM) at the age of two. She grew up at the UAM Home for Children at Quorn and the Colebrook home at Eden Hills. O'Donoghue was educated at Unley Girls' Technical High School and then, in 1953, applied to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to join the nurses training program. She was refused because she was of Aboriginal heritage. O'Donoghue joined the Aboriginal Advancement League and they campaigned to secure the entrance of Aboriginal trainees to the nursing course. O'Donoghue and another Aboriginal trainee were accepted into the Royal Adelaide Hospital programme the following year. This experience made O'Donoghue determined to combat racism and to advocate for equality for Aboriginal people.

After completing her studies O'Donoghue worked as a nurse and spent a year working in India with the Australian Baptist Overseas Mission Society. On her return to Australia she joined the newly established Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs and in 1975 was appointed South Australian regional director of the Department. O'Donoghue was then the inaugural chair of the National Aboriginal Conference and part-time South Australian Commissioner for the Aboriginal Development Commission.

From 1990 to 1996 O'Donoghue was the inaugural chair of the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and during this time assisted in the development of the agreement which became the foundation of the Native Title Act. In 1995 Prime Minister Paul Keating considered suggesting her for the post of Governor-General. Since 2000 O'Donoghue has been a Professorial Fellow at the Flinders University of South Australia and remains committed to the areas of Aboriginal health, welfare and human rights.

About 33 years after she was removed from her mother, O'Donoghue had a chance meeting with some people in Coober Pedy who recognised her as Lily's daughter. This led to a reunion with her mother that O'Donoghue describes in terms of the consequences of such removal - the loss of language, family connections and culture which make such reconnections bittersweet for all parties.

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