Category Archives: Activism > Indigenous Rights

Lowitja O’Donoghue

Lowitja O’Donoghue is a Yunkunytjatjara woman from South Australia. She was born in 1932 to Tom and Lily O’Donoghue, but with two of her sisters was removed from her family two years later by the South Australian Aboriginal Protection Board and placed with missionaries in the Colebrook Children’s Home. She did not see their mother again for over thirty years. She has said, ‘The thinking, of course, at that time was that they were actually soothing the dying pillow and that Aboriginal people would die out. And so by moving … removing the half-caste child and bringing in the regime of the half-caste children eventually becoming so-called white people’ (Hughes, tape 1).
Like other Aboriginal girls raised in mission homes, O’Donoghue went out to work as a domestic at the age of sixteen. She was employed by a family at Victor Harbour. Here, she was eventually encouraged to work as a nursing aide at the local hospital. O’Donoghue’s work on behalf of Aboriginal rights began in the early 1950s when she tried to extend her qualifications. She applied to complete her training at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, but was refused the opportunity because she was Aboriginal. She fought the decision, which was eventually overturned and she became the first Aboriginal person to train as a nurse at the hospital. She had by then joined the Aboriginal Advancement League, to advocate on behalf of other Aborigines and specifically to ensure employment options other than domestic work for women and manual labour for men could be available to them.
After completing her training O’Donoghue worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for another ten years and became a charge sister. In the 1960s, she travelled to India to nurse with the Baptist Overseas Mission. The experience was pivotal. She realised Australian aborigines ‘weren’t the only people that had been colonised and that they weren’t the only people who were dispossessed’ (Hughes, tape 4). It gave her a broader perspective on indigenous cultures and made her more determined to resist and fight the discrimination against Indigenous peoples implicit in colonial situations. When she returned to Australia she joined the state public service, working as an Aboriginal liaison officer and a welfare officer. When the federal Office of Aboriginal Affairs was established in 1967, after the referendum to change the Australian Constitution to give Federal Government the power to implement policies on Aboriginal people, she transferred to the department’s Adelaide office to work in administration. 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 this time O’Donoghue married hospital orderly Gordon Smart, who died in 1991. She also became increasingly involved in a variety of organisations working to advance Aboriginal rights. She chaired Aboriginal Hostels Limited and the Aboriginal Development Commission and was a chairperson of the National Aboriginal Congress for a short time in the early 1980s before it was dissolved. She was foundation Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission from 1990 to 1996 and oversaw the restructuring of the bureaucracies dealing with Indigenous affairs. Lowitja O’Donoghue became a member of the Australian Republic Advisory Committee in 1993 and of the Aboriginal Negotiating Team for Native Title Legislation. She chaired the National Indigenous Olympic Committee.
Lowitja O’Donoghue’s leadership in Aboriginal rights has been highly influential. A member of the stolen generation, she has also been an advocate of reconciliation and avoided politics of confrontation, finding conciliation to be more effective:
“Hatred isn’t a very healthy emotion. I’ve had to bite my tongue often because I’m naturally angry when we are badly treated. But I don’t often lose my temper. Even those Aboriginals who accuse me of being too conciliatory during negotiations say they respect me though they don’t agree with me always.” (Cockburn, p. 78)
Lowitja O’Donoghue received the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 and was declared an Australian National Living Treasure in 1998. She has been awarded numerous honours in recognition of her contribution to Aboriginal affairs including, in 1977, being the first Aboriginal woman to be awarded the AO. She has also received a CBE, an AC and honorary doctorates from universities around Australia.
O’Donoghue continues to work hard on committees work and as a public speaker, She is a patron of many health, welfare and social justice organisations, including, more recently, Australians for Just Refugee Programs. In 2010, Australia’s National Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research was named the Lowitja Institute in her honour.

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Doreen Kartinyeri

Doreen Kartinyeri was a Ngarrindjeri elder and historian, best known for her role in the controversial Hindmarsh Island bridge affair in the 1990s.

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Witarina Te Miriarangi Harris

At the time of her death, Witarina Harris was described by politician Tariana Turia as a ‘cherished kuia of Ngāti Whakaue o Te Arawa waka; darling of the silver screen; and one of Aotearoa’s original movie stars’.

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Rangitaamo Tiahuia Taiuru

Rangitaamo Tiahuia Taiuru was born at Waimoho, near Rangiriri in the Waikato district, on 24 July 1901. Her mother, Paretauhanga Rīwhero, was of Ngāti Hine of Waikato; her father, Moroati Taiuru of Rata in the Rangitīkei district, was connected to both Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Kahungunu through his hapū Ngāti Hauiti, Ngāti Haukaha, Ngāti Hikairo and Ngāti Whiti-Tama (the inter-married hapū Ngāti Tamakōpiri and Ngāti Whitikaupeka). Her parents had lost all their earlier infants. When Paretauhanga conceived again, they travelled to Waikato to consult Mahuta, the Māori King. He told them that Paretauhanga was the victim of ill will because she had been a puhi (a young woman of rank whose marriage was important to her people), and Moroati had taken her away from her home. He told them to stay in Waikato, and when the child was born, if it was a girl it was to be called Taamorangi Tiahuia Taiuru Te Rango. After her birth, her first name was altered to Rangitaamo. She and her parents stayed in Waikato long enough for Rangitaamo to attend school at Rangiriri, but after a smallpox epidemic the family returned to Rata. Seven other children were born to the family.
Rangitaamo grew up at Rata on her father’s farm. When not at school she worked with him, milking cows and doing farm work in preference to domestic chores with her mother. She also travelled with her paternal grandmother, Te Maari Maatuahu, visiting relatives and attending Native Land Court sittings. She met Tenga-i-te-rangi Takarangi while attending shows in Taihape when she was about 17. He was of the well-known Takarangi Metekīngi family of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi of Wanganui, and was also of Ngāti Whiti-Tama of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Rangitaamo’s father’s people were their close kin and originally came from the same area. Rangitaamo’s and Tenga’s families had arranged a marriage between them; they were to have one son and one daughter, who died aged two. At that time (1932) Rangitaamo adopted another daughter, and she and Tenga formalised their marriage. Their son was killed during the Second World War.
Tenga Takarangi had attended Wanganui Collegiate School, and worked as a farm cadet and farm labourer. He was a leading figure at Pūtiki marae, and Rangitaamo also worked there. At first this was behind the scenes in the kitchen and dining room, but later she learnt marae customs and was invited to welcome visitors formally. One of her first tasks was to welcome soldiers returning from the First World War. She was a foundation member of the Pūtiki Māori Club, and later was to act as tutor in waiata, karanga and whaikōrero (speech-making). She took part in tukutuku projects, making woven panels as wall decorations in meeting houses at Kai Iwi marae, Koriniti marae, the Māori church at Pūtiki, St John’s Cathedral, Napier, and Hato Pāora College, Feilding.
In 1942 Tenga joined the Native Department. Rangitaamo’s own qualities of leadership, her increasingly prominent position at Pūtiki and the range of her husband’s interests and areas of influence made her the logical choice for the Wanganui district when welfare officers were being appointed to the new Māori Welfare Division of the Native Department. She commenced her new responsibilities in May 1947. Her area extended from Pūtiki upriver to Taumarunui, and on almost to Te Kūiti, and included Taupō, part of Taranaki and the Turakina district south of Wanganui. Her main concerns were arranging housing and health care for impoverished Māori, and ensuring the best possible education for their children. Much of her time went to setting up and fostering branches of the Women’s Health League: she had 47 branches in her area, of which five were affiliated to the Rotorua Central Committee. She tried to reduce the number to form larger branches which would function more efficiently, but was thwarted by each small community wanting to work within its own branch.
In 1948 Rangitaamo was sent to the Women’s Health League conference to promote the idea among Te Arawa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa of a Māori welfare league, able to deal directly with the different government departments responsible for housing, health, education and employment. Rangitaamo presented these ideas to her Ngāti Tūwharetoa kin in Māori, hoping to break their allegiance to the Rotorua Committee. In 1951 she travelled her district, discreetly persuading the Women’s Health League branches to convert to branches of the newly formed Māori Women’s Welfare League. Just before the MWWL’s first dominion conference, Rangitaamo hosted a crucial meeting at Pūtiki in 1951 which helped to turn the tide towards it. After the league was established, Rangitaamo was ultimately responsible for its administration in her zone. Throughout the early 1950s she forwarded to the Department of Māori Affairs applications to form new branches. This meant attending and assisting at most of their meetings. She also attended all dominion conferences; with Ruth Wright and Ema Ōtene her special responsibility was to take care of official visitors.
Rangitaamo continued in her work as a welfare officer, attending meetings of the MWWL and Pūtiki’s many other community organisations for 14 years, dealing with the sick, promoting healthy child-rearing practices among mothers, caring for the homeless and disadvantaged, finding work for the unemployed, and promoting spiritual welfare through her teaching of all aspects of Māori culture. She retired officially in 1962; Tenga-i-te-rangi died the same year. Rangitaamo coped with the massive tangihanga, and later with a ceremony at Pūtiki to mark the unveiling of his memorial stone.
Neither her husband’s death nor her own retirement lessened Rangitaamo’s activity. In August 1964 she was one of a group of four Māori women who flew to Tonga to attend the 10th annual conference of the Pan-Pacific and South-East Asia Women’s Association, which was built around the theme of the role of women in preserving cultural heritage. With Te Arahori Pōtaka, also of Wanganui, Rangitaamo helped to lead the New Zealand delegation in waiata, poi dances and haka during the associated concert. For Rangitaamo, the highlight of the conference was meeting Queen Salote; they became firm friends.
Rangitaamo continued her tutoring of Māori language, arts and crafts and her role as elder at Pūtiki. In 1982 she was asked to instruct Prince Edward, then a house tutor at Wanganui Collegiate School, in Māori custom. She received the Wanganui Community Award in 1984. That year Sir Kīngi Īhaka of the Council for Māori and South Pacific Arts presented her with an award of $700 for her work in promoting Māori arts and culture, and for her compositions of waiata. She was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal in 1986 for community service. Rangitaamo Takarangi died at Wanganui Hospital, aged 90, on 5 June 1992. She was survived by a daughter and numerous descendants. After a tangihanga on Pūtiki marae, she was buried at Pūtiki cemetery.

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Elouise P Cobell

An entrepreneur, advocate, and member of the Blackfoot Nation, Elouise Pepion Cobell (“Yellow Bird Woman”), fought tirelessly for government accountability and for Native Americans to have control over their own financial future. During her life, she won countless awards, founded the first Native American owned bank, and successfully won a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Government.

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Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller is honored and recognized as the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She is also the first woman elected as chief of a major Native tribe. She spent her remarkable life fighting for the rights of American Indians.

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