The Aboriginal justice advocate was 76
Aboriginal Legal Service co-founder Paul Coe has died at the age of 76.
The Aboriginal justice advocate and Wiradjuri Elder passed on 29 July. The following day, flags at the town hall in Sydney were lowered to half-mast in his honour, ABC News reported.
ALS chairperson Keith Morgan described Coe as “a life-long campaigner for Aboriginal justice who played a pivotal role in establishing the ALS”.
“An inspiration and a fearless leader, Paul was a well-respected Aboriginal man that people looked up to as an uncompromising advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights. He leaves a legacy at the ALS that is unquantifiable”, Morgan said.
Coe was among the first Indigenous barristers in NSW and the first Aboriginal person to take up legal studies at the University of NSW. He went on to spearhead the Wiradjuri people's fight for sovereignty – a legal battle that wound up in the High Court in 1979.
Coe was in a group of Redfern activists who in the 1960s and 1970s were inspired by the American Black Power movement to challenge racist police actions through protest, advocacy and legal support. Coe and his cohorts established a database of police brutality and harassment incident recordings used in their cause.
The ALS was birthed through the group’s efforts, with Coe playing a key part in the organisation until the late 1990s. According to ABC News, his work for the Wiradjuri people's was key to the 1992 Mabo ruling, which acknowledged native titles.
Coe’s death was met with tributes not just from the ALS, but also from his children, the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, City of Sydney councillor Yvonne Weldon, and NSW Aboriginal Land Council chair Raymond Kelly, who in a statement published by ABC News described Coe as a “legend of the land rights movement”.
