AustLit

Born in Ndulkana, Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue AC CBE DSG was a member of the Stolen Generations and was taken away from her mother at the age of two. O'Donoghue and her two sisters were taken to Colebrook Children's Home in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. At sixteen, she left the Home and began working as a domestic servant. Unhappy with domestic service after two years, O'Donoghue began a nursing traineeship. The money she had accumulated in her trust fund while working as a domestic servant was going to be used for purchasing her uniforms but she was denied access.

O'Donoghue experienced discrimination in many forms during her training to be a nurse. She joined the Aborigines Advancement League to lobby for change and eventually gained entry to begin training as a nurse at Royal Adelaide Hospital, where, despite the racial discrimination at the time, she reached the position of Charge sister.

On numerous occasions the Protector of Aborigines contacted her, offering her exemption from being classified as Aboriginal, which she declined. In 1960, O'Donoghue decided to travel and left for India with the Baptist Overseas Mission where she worked with the Mother Theresa program. It was also there that her ambition to be reunited with her mother was realised. In 1962, she returned to Australia and was eventually reunited with her mother, and worked as a trained nurse and welfare officer in remote Aboriginal communities. It was during her 10 years in this work that she built a reputation for her ability to advocate for Indigenous justice.

According to The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership (2014), 'From 1975 to 1979, she held the senior position of regional Director of the office for South Australia - the first woman to be a regional director of a federal department - and was responsible for the local implementation of national Aboriginal welfare policy.'

During the 1990s, she became involved in several organisations working toward the advancement of Aboriginal rights, and chaired the Aboriginal Hostels Limited, the Aboriginal Development Commission and the National Aboriginal Congress.

In 2000, Lowitja played a key advisory role as chairperson of the Sydney Olympic Games National Indigenous Advisory Committee and carried the Olympic torch through Uluru during the Australian leg of the Olympic Torch Relay. In 2008, Lowitja provided counsel to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd regarding the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. She was chosen as one of 150 great South Australians by a panel of The Advertiser senior writers to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of The Advertiser newspaper, 12 April 2008. In 2017, she, along with Tom Calma and Galarrwuy Yunupingu, was included in Australia Post's 'Indigenous Leaders' series of stamps, part of the 2017 Legends Commemorative Stamps series.

During her career she had received many awards in recognition of her dedication and as an advocate of reconciliation and Aboriginal rights. In 2009, O'Donoghue received the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award, and 'was declared an Australian National Living Treasure in 1998. ... In 1977 was the first Aboriginal woman to be award the AO, and received a CBE, an AC and honorary doctorates from universities around Australia' (Standish, 2014), including Murdoch University, the University of South Australia, Australian National University, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), University of Adelaide, and Flinders University, where she was also a visiting Fellow.

The annual Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration has been held at the Don Dunstan Foundation since her inaugural oration in 2007: each orator is chosen by O'Donoghue, and the oration takes place in Reconciliation Week. She was also patron of the Lowitja Institute, a research institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and well being.

Sources:

http://www.naidoc.org.au/ (Sighted 14 July 2009).

Standish, Anne, 2014 O'Donoghue, Lowitja (Lois) (1932 - ). In The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Available http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0354b.htm (Sighted 24-25 May 2016).

Di Morrissey grew up in Pittwater, north of Sydney. After training as a journalist, she worked as a women's editor in Fleet Street, London. Following her marriage to an American diplomat she lived in Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Guyana and the United States, and she has worked as an advertising copywriter, TV presenter, screenwriter and radio broadcaster. She has also acted on stage and on television. She returned to live in Australia to work in television and was a television presenter on the original breakfast current affairs program, 'Good Morning Australia' from 1981 to 1988. She has made her living by writing since she was a teenager and has been involved with film and television as a writer, director and producer. She was commisioned to write her first novel in 1989 (Heart of the Dreaming, 1991) and has continued to publish a novel a year for Pan Macmillan. Her books have been translated into seven languages. As well as her writing, she is active on many boards and organisations.

Morrissey's novels have been inspired by specific Australian landscapes and deal with themes such as reconciliation, environment, identity, family and cultural heritage. She is known for writing popular fiction set against a well-researched background.

Morrissey is the niece of artist Pauline Jonach. Jonach prepared the artwork for Morrissey's 2004 novel, The Reef.

In 2017, Morrissey was inducted into the Australian Book Industry Awards Hall of Fame, and presented with the Lloyd O'Neill Award for Services to the Australian Book Industry.

McGee-Sippel poet and best-selling author is of Aboriginal Wemba Wemba, Aboriginal Yorta Yorta and Anglo Celtic background . She was separated from her Aboriginal mother shortly after birth and was adopted at six weeks of age by a non-Indigenous family. Her writing is in response to the pain she felt from not knowing her family and true cultural identity. She met her biological mother and family for the first time in 1981.

A registered nurse and midwife McGee-Sippel was caring for relinquishing mothers and those with sick, premature and stillborn babies at St Margaret's Women's Hospital, Darlinghurst, Sydney, while searching for her own mother. Following the untimely death of a much loved younger sister, in 1991, and a series of close family deaths, her words began pouring out, in the form of poetry.

Needing a career change and wanting to learn more about her cultural roots, Lorraine decided to do an Associate Diploma in Adult Education (Koori Education) 1992/3 at the University of Technology (UTS), Sydney. In 1994, she began a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, majoring in Aboriginal Studies and Writing, but the need to write her own story was strong, so in 1995 she left the University of Technology and began writing her autobiography, as well as becoming involved with Aboriginal Reconciliation, human rights and social justice issues.

McGree-Sippel was co-founder of Lane Cove Residents for Reconciliation, She has read her work at the State Library of New South Wales, the New South Wales Writers' Centre, Reconciliation meetings and various community gatherings, as well as on Koori Radio, (93.7 FM), and AWAYE (Radio National). In 2001, her manuscript/autobiography, 'The Best Part' was shorlisted for The Varuna Awards For Manuscript Development.

McGee-Sippel's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home Oral History Project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Albert Holt is a respected Aboriginal Elder from Inala in Brisbane's south-west. He grew up at the Cherbourg mission after his family was forcibly removed from their home, overcoming adversity to become a respected role model. Towards the end of 2001 Uncle Albert Holt retired from full time work. His last employment was with the Queensland Police Service, where he worked as a Police Liaison Officer for more than seven years. Upon retirement, he became more engaged with the Brisbane community. Along with other distinguished Aboriginal Elders, he was integral in establishing the Queensland Murri Courts, which is a voluntary service. He saw the Murri Courts expand to seventeen throughout Queensland. This was possible because of the invaluable contributions of the Elders. Sadly, the Murri Courts became a victim of the Newman government cuts which was a profound disappointment for Uncle Albert and a backward step for our community.

For most of his life, Uncle Albert Holt has been passionately committed to encouraging all students to maximise the educational opportunities that are available to them. He is always encouraging them to seek educational pathways which benefit themselves, their community, and above all, their country. In acknowledgement for his community work he was awarded the 2005 NAIDOC Week National Male Elder of the year. In 2007 he was awarded the Queensland Premier's Senior Citizen Community Volunteer Award. In his local suburb of Inala, a Community Housing development has been named the Uncle Albert Holt Terraces. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Queensland Indigenous Consultative Committee, a ministerially-appointed committee that gives advice to governments on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders' education.

His passion is centred on education and school visits and has been 'adopted' in over 8 local Schools. He regularly speaks to students on topics such as Aboriginal culture and history with an emphasis on reconciliation. Through Education Queensland, he has been part of the School Principal for a Day event. He says this had a huge impact on students, the Principal, teachers and staff. That a Community Elder could give his time freely to promote the value of what they can achieve with a decent education, was very empowering. For Uncle Albert, he says the joy and respect he receives is rich and rewarding and always looks forward to Education Queensland Week: Principal for a Day.

His most recent endeavour has been as one of the 2012 Australia Day Ambassadors. In this role he got to travel to Charters Towers and be part of their Australia Day celebrations where he spoke in the true spirit of reconciliation. He hopes to continue in this role next year.

Uncle Albert is a published author and has just re-released his autobiography Forcibly Removed to great acclaim. He is working on a second book and hopes to have it published as an eBook. What a long way he has come since his days on the mission!

(Source: Vanessa Kerley 2012)