Public servant, Aboriginal activist

Born to a Yankunjatjara mother and white father in the far north-west of South Australia, O'Donoghue was removed from her mother's care at the age of two. She grew up at the United Aborigines' Mission Home for Children at Quorn and the Colebrook home at Eden Hills. O'Donoghue was educated at Unley Girls' Technical High School and then, in 1953, applied to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to join the nurses training programme. She was refused because she was of Aboriginal descent. O'Donoghue joined the Aboriginal Advancement League and they began a campaign to secure the entrance of Aboriginal trainees to the nursing course. O'Donoghue and another Aboriginal trainee were accepted into the Royal Adelaide Hospital programme the following year. This experience made O'Donoghue determined to combat racism and to fight for equality for Aboriginal people.

After completing her studies O'Donoghue worked as a nurse and spent a year working in India with the Australian Baptist Overseas Mission Society. On her return to Australia she joined the newly established Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs and in 1975 was appointed South Australian regional director of the Department. O'Donoghue was then the inaugural chair of the National Aboriginal Conference and part-time South Australian Commissioner for the Aboriginal Development Commission.

From 1990 to 1996 O'Donoghue was the inaugural chair of the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and during this time assisted in the development of the agreement which became foundation of the Native Title Act. In 1995 Prime Minister Paul Keating considered suggesting her for the post of Governor-General. Since 2000 O'Donoghue has been a Professorial Fellow at the Flinders University of South Australia and remains committed to the areas of Aboriginal health, welfare and human rights.

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1975-1976: Appointed regional director of Department of Aboriginal Affairs in South Australia

26 January 1976: Appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM); first Aboriginal woman to be made AM

1977: Founding chair of National Aboriginal Conference

1982: Won the Advance Australia Award

1 January 1983: Made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

1984: Named Australian of the Year

1989-1990: South Australian Commissioner for the Aboriginal Development Commission

1990- 1996: Inaugural chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC)

1992: Won SA Great Award

1993: Assisted in the development of the agreement which became foundation of the Native Title Act

1995: Granted Honorary Fellowship to the Royal College of Nursing, Australia

1998: Named National Living Treasure

1998: Became Honorary Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians

26 January 1999: Made Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

2000-: Professorial Fellow at Flinders University

Cockburn, Stewart. Notable lives : profiles of 21 South Australians, Adelaide : Ferguson Publications, 1997

Kwan, Elizabeth. Living in South Australia : a social history, volume 2, Netley, S. Aust. : South Australian Government Printer, 1987