Tributes continue to pour in honouring the legacy of Wiradjuri activist Paul Thomas Coe who passed away in Sydney last week. He will be honoured in a cultural ceremony at Erambie Mission near Cowra on 14 August. Photo: Supplied.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains the image of a person who has died.
In a national gesture of respect this week, flags were lowered to honour an Aboriginal man born and raised in Cowra, who will soon be laid to rest on his ancestral Wiradjuri Country after passing away in Sydney.
Paul Thomas Coe’s death on 29 July, aged 76, marks the loss of one of the most important and uncompromising figures in Australia’s modern civil rights history.
Born on 4 February 1949 into the small tight-knit community of Erambie Mission, nicknamed 32 Acres, on the outskirts of Cowra, Paul was one of 10 children of Agnes and Les Coe.
As if guided by the wandering stars, he was named after another great man – his grandfather, Paul Joseph Coe, a legendary buckjumper and drover whose self-made legacy and quiet resolve earned the deep respect of the Cowra community and left a lasting imprint on generations to come.
Paul Coe’s early years were shaped by the harsh realities of systemic racism and segregation, yet also by a powerful sense of cultural identity and political resolve, instilled by his parents.
Known locally for their quiet strength and fierce pride in their Wiradjuri heritage, Les and Agnes Coe were not only pillars of their community but also pivotal figures in the Aboriginal land rights movement.
Their son would carry those values – resilience, justice, and pride – into every stage of his life.
As a teenager, Paul became the first Aboriginal student at Cowra High School to complete the Higher School Certificate and be elected as a prefect.
He would then break further ground as the first Aboriginal person to study law at the University of NSW, marking the beginning of a lifetime of pioneering achievements.
From his early 20s, Paul was at the forefront of Aboriginal activism in Sydney and central to the formation of the Redfern Black Power movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which drew from global civil rights momentum and sought to fight discrimination, assert Aboriginal autonomy and expose police brutality.
It was out of this era that Paul helped establish Australia’s first community-controlled legal aid service – the Aboriginal Legal Service in 1970.
Created to provide culturally appropriate legal support to Aboriginal people routinely targeted by law enforcement and disadvantaged in the justice system, the free service became a national model and its creation remains one of Paul’s most enduring legacies.
He was also deeply involved in the campaign for the 1967 referendum that saw Australians vote overwhelmingly to include Aboriginal people in the census and allow the Federal Government to make laws for them.
In 1972 Paul played a leading role in the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra – which today remains an enduring symbol of Aboriginal sovereignty and resistance.
In 1976, in a symbolic assertion of Aboriginal sovereignty, Paul travelled to the United Kingdom with fellow activists and, after symbolically rowing, then, after the boat sank, swimming ashore, planted the Aboriginal flag on the Cliffs of Dover.
A plaque now marks the spot, commemorating what was at the time a radical act of protest that asserted Indigenous claims to nationhood on the doorstep of empire.
He also made legal history with his 1979 High Court case, Coe v Commonwealth, which challenged the legitimacy of British sovereignty over Australia and argued for recognition of continuing Aboriginal legal and political rights.
Although the case was dismissed, it laid conceptual foundations that would later influence the Mabo decision of 1992, which overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius and recognised native title for the first time.
Throughout the 1980s, Paul continued to drive institutional change, playing a key role in the creation of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and elected its first treasurer after the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was passed in 1983.
His leadership would help direct millions of dollars in compensation funding into land claims and Aboriginal community development projects.
Although Paul’s legal career ended in 1997 after a misconduct finding, his influence never waned.
He later taught Aboriginal studies at Eora TAFE in Redfern, mentoring young people and continuing to speak out about the rights of First Nations people.
In every position he held, Paul unflinchingly fought for the return of land, respect for culture and recognition of Aboriginal self-determination and to the end, remained a source of knowledge, strength and fire.
His life’s work altered the legal, political and cultural landscape of Australia.
Nationally, tributes have come from all corners.
The Aboriginal Legal Service described him as a towering figure in the fight for justice whose legacy cannot be measured.
NSW Aboriginal Land Council chairperson Danny Chapman described Paul as a legend who changed the lives of thousands and paved the way for generations of Aboriginal leaders.
“Paul was an incredible fighter and will be remembered for generations to come,” he said.
Paul’s niece, Sydney City Councillor Yvonne Weldon, said her uncle was a titan whose fearlessness shook institutions to their core.
But in Cowra, he’s remembered first and foremost as one of their own – a proud Wiradjuri man who never stopped fighting for his people.
Flowers and messages have been left outside the Erambie Mission gates and local elders have described him as a giant whose loss will be felt for generations.
Paul Coe is survived by his children and extended family, who have vowed to carry on his legacy.
In their tribute, they spoke of yindyamarra – a Wiradjuri word meaning respect and honour – as the essence of Paul’s life and the farewell he deserves.
A cultural ceremony will be held at Erambie Mission, the place of his birth and belonging, guided by Wiradjuri lore and customs on Thursday 14 August at 11 am.
It’s here, on the same soil where he first ran as a child and first learned to speak out, that his family and community will farewell him in the way he would have wanted – on Country, surrounded by his people.
He will be interred at Cowra Cemetery.
