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Indigenous rights trailblazer and Yankunytjatjara woman Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue has died aged 91.
In a statement, her niece Deb Edwards announced she died peacefully at home on Sunday on Kaurna Country in Adelaide, with her immediate family by her side.
She said her aunt had dedicated her entire life of work to the rights, health, and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Tributes have been quick to flow from across the nation.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mourned the passing of one of Australia's "most remarkable leaders", describing Dr O'Donoghue as a figure of "grace and moral clarity", while South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he would be reaching out to her family to offer a state funeral.
Minister for Indigenous Affairs Linda Burney said it was difficult to sum up the magnitude of Dr O'Donoghue's legacy.
She told the ABC Dr O'Donoghue was admired and respected by Australians irrespective of politics, and loved by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
"Her legacy will be felt for generations to come, maybe forever. Some of the changes that she brought about, some of the battles she was involved in, some of the issues around things like Native Title. Australian of the Year. And her own life story is the story of the truth of Australia."
Born in 1932 to a Yankunytjatjara mother and an Irish father in remote South Australia, Dr O'Donoghue was a member of the Stolen Generations, taken from her mother at age two and put in a children's home.
She gained prominence after becoming the first Aboriginal person to train as a nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1954, after lobbying against a decision to deny her the opportunity because of her heritage.
After advancing her career by challenging discriminatory decisions, in the 1960s she joined Aboriginal rights groups in South Australia, while working as a nurse, welfare officer and later director at the state's Department of Aboriginal Affairs.
She campaigned for the successful 1967 referendum to change the constitution to officially count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the population, and give the government the power to make laws for them.
Paying tribute, Dr Noel Pearson says Australia owes an unpayable debt to its "greatest Indigenous leader".
"Her sacrifice for the cause of her people and her dedication to our welfare led to so many good things under her leadership. When she led ATSIC between 1990 and 1996 they were our best years. We gained so much."
Continuing her advocacy, Dr O’Donoghue was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1977.
She was the founding chairperson of the National Aboriginal Conference, and in 1984 was named Australian of the Year.
And in 1990, she became the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, or ATSIC.
In this capacity, one of her landmark achievements was lobbying the Keating government to recognise and protect Indigenous land rights and interests through the 1993 Native Title Act.
Dr Pearson, who first met Dr O'Donoghue aged 20, and was later part of the negotiating team on the Native Title act, told the ABC her advice combined humour and wisdom.
"A lot of it was laughter, but advice. And she was not afraid to tell me straight, as she did with other leaders across the country. She gave us guidance over these last three decades. I first met her when she was 60 years old. She'd already had an enormous career, expertise and experience behind her. I, like so many others, learned so much from her."
In her role as the chair of ATSIC, Dr O'Donoghue became one of the first Aboriginal people to attend a cabinet meeting, in 1991, using the opportunity to present the organisation's position on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
A powerful public speaker, in 1992, she became the first Aboriginal Australian to address the United Nations General Assembly.
In 2007, the Don Dunstan Foundation established the annual Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration in her honour, and she gave the inaugural address.
Senator Burney, who gave the 15th annual address in 2023 and worked with Dr O'Donoghue on the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1997, said she was an inspiration for generations of Indigenous Australians.
"Many of us young Aboriginal women at the time in the nineties, and in the eighties, looked at Lowitja and saw possibility. And in her presence you just felt, you felt her graciousness, you felt her kindness, but you also felt very much the fact that she could be very stern, and that sternness was always about teaching a lesson."
In 2008, Dr O'Donoghue helped Australia face up to uncomfortable truths, when she advised then prime minister Kevin Rudd on the federal government's formal Apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the Stolen Generations.
Her work will live on through the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation, and the Lowitja Institute, Australia’s only Indigenous-controlled health research institute.
Greens Senator Dorinda Cox told the ABC Dr O'Donoghue's personal greatness will also be remembered.
"What a great woman, a trailblazer, matriarch, and such a wonderful, kind and compassionate woman, who always made you feel the strength and resilience of her presence when you were in the room, and my heartfelt condolences to her family."
For culturally appropriate Indigenous support call 13 YARN, a 24 hour national telephone helpline on 13 92 76 which provides support across a range of issues, and the number for Aboriginal Counselling Services is 0410 539 905.
