Lowitja O'Donoghue is arguably our nation's most recognised Indigenous woman. A powerful and unrelenting advocate for her people, an inspiration for many, a former Australian of the Year, she sat opposite Prime Minister Paul Keating in the first negotiations between an Australian government and Aboriginal people and changed the course of the nation. We need to return to the early childhood experience of Lowitja O'Donoghue in a home for so called 'half-caste children', to understand why she made some momentous decisions that led her on the path to leadership.