If there’s one name that synonymous with American politics, it’s Kennedy.

A political dynasty that started in the 1880s, it’s one that included former president John F. Kennedy.

Now, a member of the Kennedy family is in Australia for her first time.

The eldest of the 11 children, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was also the first female Lutientnet Governor in the state of Maryland on America’s east coast.

At just 16 years of age, her father Robert. F Kennedy was assassinated, only two months after Martin Luther King was also shot and killed.

“It was a very tough time,” she tells Chirs Smith.

“Because as you know, five years earlier my uncle (President John F. Kennedy) had been killed and there were riots in the streets in [1966] and [1967].

“There was a great deal of upheaval.”

She says there was a “great sense of loss” and it was a “great disappointment” to lose such progressive leaders.

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview 

Ms Kennedy Townsend in Australia to address superannuation industry conference in Adelaide.