Lowitja O’Donoghue
MTC Audio Lab

Great Australian Speeches

Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue’s opening of the National Congress of Australia’s First People

Read by Shareena Clanton

Shareena Clanton reads Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue's speech which opened the National Congress of Australia’s First People on 8 June 2011.

Dr Lowitja Lois O'Donoghue Smart AC CBE DSG, is a lauded Aboriginal Australian and retired public administrator.

In 1976, Dr O'Donoghue was the first Aboriginal woman to be inducted into the new Order of Australia, in recognition of her work in the welfare field. She was named Australian of the Year in 1984, for her work to improve the welfare of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. From 1990 to 1996 she was the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and was invested as a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) on 26 January 1999.

This is Dr O'Donoghue's speech opening the National Congress of Australia’s First People on 8 June 2011, read by Shareena Clanton.


Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this recording may contain names and words of deceased persons.



Image of Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue via Wikimedia Commons. Speech recorded with permission from the Lowitja Institute.


Thank you for tuning into MTC Audio Lab. You can hear more episodes from this series here.

While we're offstage, we begin this new initiative by experimenting with non-fiction texts and poetry in Great Australian Speeches, recreating chilling ghost stories in a dramatic reading of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, and will be exploring audio plays when we can return to the studio.

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Published on 17 July 2020

MTC Audio Lab: Great Australian Speeches