Patricia O'Connor (elder)
{{Short description|Australian Aboriginal elder}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Patricia O'Connor
|image = Patricia O'Connor with Queen's Baton 2018.jpg
|caption = O'Connor with the Queen's Baton at Yugambeh Museum in 2018
|birth_name = Patricia Yuke
|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1928}}
|birth_place = Beaudesert, Queensland
|nationality = Australian
|occupation = Aboriginal elder
|known_for = Reviving the Yugambeh language
}}
Patricia O'Connor ({{nee}} Yuke, born 1928) is an Australian Aboriginal elder of the Yugambeh people. She is known for her work in reviving the Yugambeh language and opening the Yugambeh Museum. In 2014 she received the NAIDOC Award for Female Elder of the Year, and in 2019 she was named a Queensland Great.{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=2019 Queensland Greats recipients {{!}} Queensland Greats Awards |url=https://www.qld.gov.au/about/events-awards-honours/awards/qld-greats-awards/2019-recipients |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=www.qld.gov.au |language=en}}
Early and personal life
O'Connor was born Patricia Yuke in Beaudesert, Queensland in 1928 to mother Edith Graham and father Stanley Yuke,{{Cite news|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/logan/indigenous-elder-patricia-oconnor-honoured-with-queensland-day-award/news-story/50ea8c514fe9fe9f04137739278c69d7|title=Indigenous elder Patricia O'Connor honoured with Queensland Day award|newspaper=The Courier-Mail|last=Kerr|first=Judith|date=9 June 2019|access-date=26 July 2021|url-access=subscription}} who also had two other children. She grew up near Kooralbyn in the Scenic Rim Region.{{Cite news|url=https://www.beaudeserttimes.com.au/story/6205394/beaudesert-elder-receives-queensland-great-award/|title=Anastacia Palaszczuk hands Beaudesert elder Queensland Great Award|newspaper=Beaudesert Times|date=7 June 2019|access-date=26 July 2021}} She is a member of the Yugambeh people, an Australian Aboriginal group whose traditional lands are located in South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales.{{Cite web |title=Queensland Day award for indigenous woman |url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=CMWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.couriermail.com.au%2Fquestnews%2Flogan%2Findigenous-elder-patricia-oconnor-honoured-with-queensland-day-award%2Fnews-story%2F50ea8c514fe9fe9f04137739278c69d7&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-high-control-score&V21spcbehaviour=append}} She later married Terrence Michael O'Connor, and had 7 children, including Rory O'Connor and a daughter, Faith.{{Cite web |last=Austlit |title=Rory O'Connor {{!}} AustLit: Discover Australian Stories |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A124665 |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=www.austlit.edu.au |language=en}}
Career
O'Connor has spent much of her life working as an advocate for Yugambeh issues. In the 1980s, for example, she was part of a team which negotiated the largest ever repatriation of Aboriginal remains.{{Cite news|url=https://f-magazine.online/oconnor-awarded/|title=O'CONNOR AWARDED|magazine=F Magazine|date=11 June 2019|access-date=26 July 2021}} Then, in 1991, she and her sister Ysola Best led the organisation and installation of the Yugambeh War Memorial in Jebribillum Bora Park, Burleigh Heads, which was the first war memorial in Australia dedicated to Indigenous soldiers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.qld.gov.au/about/events-awards-honours/awards/qld-greats-awards/2019-recipients|title=2019 Queensland Greats recipients|publisher=Queensland Government|access-date=26 July 2021}}
In 2018 she played a prominent role during the Commonwealth Games, which were being held on the Gold Coast that year, as a traditional custodian of the land on which the event was being held.{{Cite web |title=Elder's first overseas trip takes her to Buckingham Palace ceremony |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/elders-first-overseas-trip-takes-her-to-buckingham-palace-ceremony/4spzkvi40 |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=NITV |language=en}} She accompanied Queen Elizabeth II on stage at the launch of the Queen's Baton Relay at Buckingham Palace,{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-06/gold-coast-indigenous-elders-first-to-join-queens-baton-relay/8327692|title=2018 Commonwealth Games: Gold Coast Indigenous elders first to join Queen's baton relay launch ceremony|publisher=ABC News|last1=Larkins|first1=Damien|last2=Dyer|first2=Nicole|date=6 March 2017|access-date=26 July 2021}} and the baton itself was made partly of macadamia wood because of a story told by O'Connor to its designers.{{Cite news|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2017/03/14/elders-take-centre-stage-buckingham-palace|title=Elders take centre stage at Buckingham Palace|publisher=National Indigenous Television|last=Archibald-Binge|first=Ella|date=14 March 2017|access-date=26 July 2021}} She also gave the Welcome to Country at the opening ceremony.
She is, however, probably best known for her work in restoring the Yugambeh language. In the 1980s, the language was considered by academics to be dead before O'Connor and her sister began to record it in an attempt at revival. She opened the Yugambeh Museum to help with this goal and, as a result, the language is now taught in numerous schools and education centres as of 2020.{{Cite news|url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/how-two-queensland-women-brought-an-indigenous-language-back-from-the-dead-20200122-p53tme.html|title=How two Queensland women brought an Indigenous language back from the 'dead'|newspaper=Brisbane Times|last=Garcia|first=Jocelyn|date=25 January 2020|access-date=26 July 2021}}
Honours
In 2014, O'Connor received the Female Elder of the Year award at the NAIDOC Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://www.naidoc.org.au/awards/winner-profiles/patricia-oconnor|title=Patricia O'Connor|date=June 2018 |publisher=NAIDOC|access-date=26 July 2021}}
Then, in 2019, the Queensland Government named her a Queensland Great,{{Cite news|url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/journalist-billionaire-and-rugby-legend-all-queensland-greats-20190606-p51v5k.html|title=Journalist, billionaire and rugby legend, all Queensland Greats|newspaper=Brisbane Times|last=Lynch|first=Lydia|date=6 June 2019|access-date=26 July 2021}} an honour which "recognises the efforts and achievements of remarkable individuals... for their invaluable contribution to the history and development of [the] state".{{Cite web|url=https://www.qld.gov.au/about/events-awards-honours/awards/qld-greats-awards/|title=Queensland Greats Awards|publisher=Queensland Government|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531022559/https://www.qld.gov.au/about/events-awards-honours/awards/qld-greats-awards/|archive-date=31 May 2017|access-date=26 July 2021}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/7224125 Patricia O'Connor's profile] on AustLit
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Category:Australian Aboriginal elders
Category:Australian women activists
Category:20th-century Australian women