Revered Australian Aboriginal rights activist Lowitja O’Donoghue dies aged 91

In a statement, her family said: “Our Aunty and Nana was the Matriarch of our family, whom we have loved and looked up to our entire lives.

“We adored and admired her when we were young and have grown up full of never-ending pride as she became one of the most respected and influential Aboriginal leaders this country has ever known,” Deb Edwards, O’Donoghue’s niece, said in the statement.

Her family said that she died in the Kaurna Country in Adelaide.

A Yankunytjatjara leader and activist, O’Donoghue was much loved for her remarkable contributions to the rights and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to her lifelong dedication to advocating for indigenous rights. He said O’Donoghue was “one of the most remarkable leaders this country has ever known”.

“From the earliest days of her life, Dr O’Donoghue endured discrimination that would have given her every reason to lose faith in her country. Yet she never did,” he said.