Indigenous trailblazer Lowitja O'Donoghue dies aged 91

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and images of a deceased person.
• One of Australia’s most highly-regarded Indigenous leaders, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, has died aged 91.

Later she was the first woman to be a regional director of an Australian federal department.

• She was involved in Indigenous causes ranging in scope from the 1967 referendum to the native title legislation of the 1990s.
• She turned down Paul Keating’s offer of the governor-generalship.

Her family said in a statement announcing her death: “Aunty Lowitja dedicated her entire lifetime of work to the rights, health, and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.

‘A giant for our country’

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described O'Donoghue as “a figure of grace, moral clarity, and extraordinary inner strength.
• She provided courageous leadership during the Mabo debates and as chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission,” Albanese said.
• She taught me how to be a good public servant and to operate ethically.” Noel Pearson said O'Donoghue was “a leaders’ leader”.
• "Without Lowitja’s ATSIC we would never have defended Eddie Mabo’s great legacy and negotiated the Native Title Act and Indigenous Land Fund.”

Lowitja Institute patron Pat Anderson said she was “a national treasure”. “Courageous and fearless in leading change, Lowitja was continually striving for better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. She will remain in my heart as a true friend and an inspiration to Australians for years to come.”

Keating pays tribute

• Keating said in a statement that O'Donoghue “led the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission with great power and
  ambition.
• "The consultation which gave effect to an Aboriginal voice speaking and representing a national community in designing a law to recover their expropritated traditional lands.

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.