Aboriginal rights activist Paul Coe and lawyer dies aged 76
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains the image of a person who has died.
Wiradjuri Elder and Aboriginal rights activist Paul Coe died on Tuesday, aged 76.
Having grown up at the Erambie Aboriginal Mission at Cowra in the NSW Central West, he went on to become an instrumental force in fighting for Aboriginal human rights and justice.
Mr Coe moved to Sydney in the late 1960s, where he found himself at the forefront of Australia's Black Power Movement, before helping to establish the Aboriginal Legal Service.
In 1972, he took his advocacy to the lawns outside Parliament House in Canberra, joining the Tent Embassy protests.
The first Aboriginal person to study law at the University of New South Wales, Mr Coe led the Wiradjuri peoples battle for sovereignty, taking their fight to the High Court of Australia in 1979.
While the case against the Commonwealth was unsuccessful, his work later became influential in the 1992 Mabo decision — a landmark ruling which recognised native title.
The family has given the ABC permission to use Mr Coe's name and image.
His children paid tribute to their father on social media, saying his family will "honour his legacy and his role in the ongoing story of Wiradjuri resistance and resilience".
"He spent his life devoted to continuing our Wiradjuri ways and fighting for justice, land rights and self-determination for Aboriginal peoples", they wrote.
The Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council said Mr Coe's work "should never be forgotten".
"He was one of the most influential peoples in Australia's ongoing history of and for the fight for rights for Koori and/or Aboriginal peoples, culture and identity.
"We are forever grateful and thankful for [his] wit, wisdom, efforts and contribution, courage and determination to fight for our rights. May your legacy live on and prosper", it said in a statement.
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