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O’Donoghue launches institute
Thursday, 4 March 2010
12:41:42 PM
NATIONAL
Issue 196, March 4, 2010: National treasure Lowitja O’Donoghue was joined by an Olympic gold medallist and government ministers as she launched an Indigenous health research institute named in her honour.
The one-time Australian of the Year told an audience of more than 100 people gathered at Parliament House in Canberra she wasn’t initially very gracious when she was approached with the idea.
“My response was very grown-up like ‘no way’,” the patron of the Lowitja Institute said. “It occurred to me that having an institute named after me would have half the country thinking I was dead.”
The Lowitja Institute will seek philanthropic funding to research the causes of Indigenous health problems and examine social factors such as housing, employment and racism. Olympic hockey gold medallist Nova Peris-Kneebone was at the launch, along with Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin and Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon.
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