Aboriginal Advancement League

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星期一, 二月 5, 2024

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In the many tributes that have flowed since the announcement of Lowitja O’Donoghue’s death on February 4 at age 91, many commentators have noted her leadership and commitment to public life over many years.

Key Points:

In the many tributes that have flowed since the announcement of Lowitja O’Donoghue’s death on February 4 at age 91, many commentators have noted her leadership and commitment to public life over many years.
Of her many public roles, chairing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (1990-2005) across the first six years of its life stands out.

An activist and trailblazer

There she joined the Aborigines Advancement League and helped spearhead campaigns for civil rights.
Read more:
Indigenous trailblazer Lowitja O'Donoghue dies aged 91
In 1967 she joined the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs, rising to become regional director from 1975-79.
A key recommendation of her report was the establishment of regional assemblies across Australia, a model that became central to ATSIC.

Inaugural chair of ATSIC

O'Donoghue was regarded as the logical choice for inaugural chair of ATSIC.
A statutory body, combining representative, advisory and administrative functions, ATSIC was unlike all previous representative bodies for Indigenous Australians.
She steered a board of 17 regional commissioners, along with an extra two commissioners appointed by the minister.

Negotiating Mabo

Not long after this, O'Donoghue was required to steer ATSIC’s response to the Mabo decision.
This was no small task, as it unleashed a torrent of discontent across Australia and resistance in many quarters.
Read more:
Australian politics explainer: the Mabo decision and native title
This was a highlight of her career, not least because it demonstrated that ATSIC was no “toothless tiger” and showcased the acumen of a rising Aboriginal political sector.

Taking Indigenous advocacy around the world

In 1993, the international year of the world’s Indigenous peoples, she spoke at the World Conference on Human Rights at Vienna.
In his PhD thesis on Indigenous engagement with the UN, Indigenous scholar Graeme La Macchia shows how in the development of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, member states became anxious about words like self-determination.
He shows how O'Donoghue held firm, arguing that nothing short of political self-determination and economic empowerment would suffice for the world’s Indigenous people.

A profound legacy

In her farewell address, O'Donoghue described her time at ATSIC as intense, exhilarating and, at times, exhausting.
We should know and remember her considerable contribution to this important part of our political history.

Alison Holland receives funding from the Australian Research Council (DP230100714 - Policy for Self-Determination: the Case Study of ATSIC) with Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt, Associate Professor Daryl Rigney, Dr Kirsten Thorpe and Lindon Coombes.