{"id":594040,"date":"2026-04-08T19:43:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/594040\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:43:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:43:33","slug":"how-the-legacy-of-australias-black-power-movement-continues-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/594040\/","title":{"rendered":"How the legacy of Australia’s Black Power movement continues today"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1967, the words of Oakland’s Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P Newton reverberated around the globe: “Rewriting unjust laws is a basic human right and fundamental obligation.”<\/p>\n

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island readers are advised this article contains the names and images of people who have died.<\/p>\n

In Sydney’s Redfern, the founders of Australia’s Black Power movement took notice.<\/p>\n

What they did next would forever alter the lives of First Nations people.<\/p>\n

More than 50 years later, their legacy lives on \u2014 not only through the invaluable community services they created, but in descendants, like Mykel, who carry the torch for a new generation.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mykel, a relative of Paul and Isabel Coe, wants to continue their fight for Indigenous rights.\u00a0 (ABC News: Leah White)<\/p>\n

Police harassment and the moment of reckoning<\/p>\n

Redfern was a major centre of First Nations activism in the 60s and early 70s.<\/p>\n

More than 20,000 Indigenous Australians moved to Sydney following the abolishment of the Aborigines Protection Board in 1969 and the gradual closure of the reserve system.<\/p>\n

They came to the city, seeking opportunity and community.<\/p>\n

Most of them made their way to Redfern \u2014 a suburb then categorised by the city’s social service as a “slum”.<\/p>\n

Housing was old and dilapidated, and overcrowding was common after the mass influx.<\/p>\n

Racism made finding work hard, and in the exceptions, it was often manually gruelling and underpaid.<\/p>\n

Police brutality was also rampant.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gary Foley (wearing helmet) during a later Aboriginal Embassy supporters’ march in 1972. (Supplied: Mitchell Library\/ State Library of New South Wales\/ Courtesy of SEARCH Foundation)<\/p>\n

“The one thing everybody in Redfern had in common was poverty,” Gumbaynggirr historian and activist Gary Foley recalls.<\/p>\n

“The other thing \u2026 was we were all subject to a campaign of police harassment and brutality that was happening on the streets constantly.”<\/p>\n

It was among these tensions Dr Foley first met Black Power co-founder Paul Coe.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A young Paul Coe speaking in 1970.\u00a0 (Supplied: Mitchell Library\/ State Library of New South Wales\/ Courtesy SEARCH Foundation)<\/p>\n

Mr Coe and his sister, Isabel Coe, had grown up on Wiradjuri Country near Cowra.<\/p>\n

Mr Coe told Dr Foley that, since his move to Sydney, a relative had been shot by police.<\/p>\n

Dr Foley had recently faced a “pretty severe bashing” at the hands of police.<\/p>\n

It was enough, they decided.<\/p>\n

“Talking to Paul, we naively decided we wanted to do something about these coppers,” Dr Foley remembers.<\/p>\n

The activists formed a small group that copied Black Panther tactics and began recording information about police harassment and raids.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

The movement also evolved to focus on land rights. Here, Lyall Munro Jr, Paul Coe, Vic Simms and Linda Coe protest.\u00a0 (Supplied: Elaine Pelot Syron)<\/p>\n

“We set up our own surveillance operation on the police, and we gathered a massive amount of information,” Dr Foley says.<\/p>\n

Mr Coe was the University of NSW’s first Indigenous law student at the time.<\/p>\n

He asked faculty dean Hal Wootten to help them with the next steps, but, eventually, it was himself who suggested a solution.<\/p>\n

“Paul said to [Hal Wootten], ‘I’ve read that in America, certain African American communities have set up these free shopfront legal aid centres. Why can’t we do that here?'” Dr Foley recalls.<\/p>\n

“And Hal Wootten proceeded to tell Paul and me and Gary (Williams) a dozen reasons why it couldn’t be done in Australia.<\/p>\n

\"Kids<\/p>\n

Children stand in front of the Aboriginal Legal Service in its early days. (Supplied: Elaine Pelot Syron)<\/p>\n

“Six weeks later, we opened the doors of the Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service and introduced free shopfront legal aid to Australia.<\/p>\n

“We were the first to do that in Australia.”<\/p>\n

The impact was immediate.<\/p>\n

“The police realised that they could no longer just arbitrarily arrest people and sling them in jail on trumped-up charges,” Dr Foley says.<\/p>\n

“For the first time, Aboriginal people, when they got arrested, when they went to court, they were being represented, and that had an impact.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Indigenous activists Arnold Williams, Lyall Munro Jr, Cecil Patten, Kenny Weldon and Dan Munro also played a role in the beginning of the service.\u00a0 (Supplied: Elaine Pelot Syron)<\/p>\n

Mr Coe’s aunty, Shirley Smith (Mum Shirl) and others soon spearheaded the Aboriginal Medical Service in a similar fashion.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mum Shirl also played a pivotal role in establishing the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs, the Aboriginal Children’s Service and the Aboriginal Housing Company.\u00a0 (Supplied: Elaine Pelot Syron)<\/p>\n

Also initially shot down by naysayers, the activists paid them no mind.<\/p>\n

“Within six weeks, we opened the doors of the first free shopfront medical service in Australia,” Dr Foley recalls.<\/p>\n

In time, a mobile caravan feeding local children became Murawina \u2014 the first fully Indigenous-run preschool in Australia.<\/p>\n

Both the Aboriginal Legal Service and Aboriginal Medical Service eventually became federally funded organisations nationwide.<\/p>\n

To this day, the Aboriginal Legal Service remains Australia’s cornerstone of free, culturally appropriate legal advice.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gary Williams (far left), Gary Foley (centre) and Naomi Meyers (far right) pictured in the medical service’s early days.\u00a0 (Supplied: Elaine Pelot Syron)<\/p>\n

Dr Foley says the Coe siblings played a crucial role in building such momentum behind the movement.<\/p>\n

“Paul, when I first met him, was an incredibly charismatic orator,” he says.<\/p>\n

“It was Coe’s charisma that attracted a lot of the early crew into our little collective.<\/p>\n

“And almost immediately, that included Isabel because she was Paul’s sister, and Billy Craigie<\/a> was Isabel’s partner.<\/p>\n

“I became aware of her very quickly because she was a very strong person in herself.”\"A<\/p>\n

Isabel Coe, pictured in 2000, calling for a boycott to the Sydney 2000 Olympics “if things don’t improve here in Redfern”.\u00a0 (Reuters: File)<\/p>\n

Symbol of First Nations sovereignty<\/p>\n

Black Power had changed Redfern and beyond, but the movement’s Tent Embassy would bring Indigenous land rights to an international stage.<\/p>\n

On January 25, 1972, the McMahon government announced a new system that rejected granting independent ownership of traditional land to First Nations people.<\/p>\n

The next day, four members of the collective \u2014 armed with only a beach umbrella and a sign with the slogan “Aboriginal Embassy” \u2014 made their way to the then-Parliamentary Lawn.<\/p>\n

More stories about young Australians<\/p>\n

The Coes, Dr Foley, and other Black Power members soon joined them.<\/p>\n

Fifty-four years later, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy remains \u2014 a symbol of an enduring fight for Indigenous sovereignty in Australia.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

The embassy’s four original members Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, Michael Anderson and Tony Coorey.\u00a0 (Supplied: Mitchell Library\/ State Library of New South Wales\/ Courtesy SEARCH Foundation)<\/p>\n

The embassy convinced Labor and Gough Whitlam to break ranks with a bipartisan assimilation policy in favour of self-determination<\/a>, marking the first time since federation that one of the two major political parties had scrapped the policy.<\/p>\n

“We knew that we had the government on the run,” Dr Foley says.<\/p>\n

“That was a big feeling for a bunch of nobodies.<\/p>\n

“We started off with just the three of us in the beginning, me, Coe, Williams, but the little collective that we created there changed the course of Australian history.”<\/p>\n

In the years since the 70s, the embassy has, at times, courted controversy from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.<\/p>\n

But it has stood firm despite being threatened with violence and closure a number of times.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Paul Coe (standing, left) questions Gough Whitlam and the bipartisan assimilation policy. (Wikimedia Commons: The Tribune \/ State Library of New South Wales and the SEARCH Foundation\/Creative Commons licence)<\/p>\n

In the 90s, this was largely due to Isabel Coe.<\/p>\n

She took the lead when the embassy faced rumours the federal government wanted to remove the protest site.<\/p>\n

“Well, we’ve been sitting here for 27 years, and we’re going to continue to stay here,” Ms Coe said at the time.<\/p>\n

“We’re here in sovereignty, we have never signed a treaty, we have never relinquished sovereignty to our country, and that’s what this Aboriginal Tent Embassy is all about, and that’s why they want to remove us.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Sam Watson and Bruce Morris outside the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in the 70s.\u00a0 (Supplied: Mitchell Library\/ State Library of New South Wales\/ Courtesy of SEARCH Foundation)<\/p>\n

A new fight<\/p>\n

Today, a younger generation keeps the spirit of Black Power alive.<\/p>\n

How a beach umbrella inspired half a century of Indigenous protest<\/a><\/p>\n

Fifty years ago the\u00a0Aboriginal Tent Embassy laid an anchor for decades of protests for Indigenous rights \u2014 a battle that activists continue online to this day.<\/p>\n

Mykel \u2014 a proud Wiradjuri, Gamilaroi and Bigambul man and relative of the Coe siblings \u2014 understands the issues facing his community have progressed but still looks to the legacy of the pair.<\/p>\n

“They’ve paved down a really great foundation for me to build upon,” he says.<\/p>\n

The teenager grew up in Condobolin, a town south-west of Dubbo, which he dubs Condo.<\/p>\n

He takes inspiration from the Coes’ regional NSW roots and hopes to improve outcomes for regional First Nations communities.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mykel wants to see resources for Indigenous rural communities improved.\u00a0 (ABC News: Leah White)<\/p>\n

Mykel believes Condo \u2014 though tight-knit and supportive \u2014struggles with drug and alcohol abuse.<\/p>\n

He says the problem is partly to do with boredom: “The most exciting thing seems to be who’s performing at the pub on the weekend.”<\/p>\n

But also points to limited support in rural areas.<\/p>\n

“I think especially rural and regional resources trying to support Indigenous people seem to be lacking,” he says.<\/p>\n

The most recent inquiry into NSW rural health outcomes confirmed as much,<\/a> acknowledging a lack of affordable and culturally appropriate healthcare.<\/p>\n

As of 2024, recommendations to fix cultural barriers to telehealth and increasing Indigenous healthcare workers remained outstanding.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ute<\/p>\n

Mykel says there are limited opportunities outside of footy or farming in Condobolin. (ABC Central West: Joanna Woodburn)<\/p>\n

‘It’s our legacy’<\/p>\n

Though Mykel heard “bits and pieces” of his family history, a year 11 history assignment put the Coes into a new light.<\/p>\n

“I think at first it was a bit surreal,” he says.<\/p>\n

“Like maybe I tried to play it up a little bit, that maybe they mightn’t have done all that or something.”<\/p>\n

Since then, they’ve become his aspiration \u2014 if at times subconsciously.<\/p>\n

He is studying law, just like his Uncle Paul.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Paul Coe became one of Australia’s first Indigenous barristers.\u00a0 (Supplied: UNSW Archives)<\/p>\n

His interest in legal justice started before he even learnt of Mr Coe’s foundational High Court case, seeking legal recognition that Indigenous people had never ceded sovereignty.<\/p>\n

“Our familial connections were so strong that I didn’t even know that I was doing it,” Mykel says.<\/p>\n

“It just seems like a lot of what I’m doing, whether consciously or subconsciously, always relates back to Uncle Paul and Aunty Isabel.”<\/p>\n

He believes the law can pave a better future for his community.<\/p>\n

The legacy of the Aboriginal Legal Service is proof.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

“I always write something down or I’ll think about something and then there’ll be a correlation to Uncle Paul and Aunty Isabel.” (ABC News: Leah White)<\/p>\n

And like the movement before him, he believes some laws still need to be rewritten.<\/p>\n

“The law has always seemed to be something that went against Indigenous people,” he says.<\/p>\n

“It started off with Terra Nullius \u2026 then the Australian Constitution, which wasn’t changed until the 1967 referendum.<\/p>\n

‘[It] needs to be re-amended from what it originally was to accommodate not just Aboriginal people, not just Australian people, but both together.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mykel during the 2025 Condobolin SkyFest, on Wiradjuri Country.\u00a0 (Supplied: Mykel)<\/p>\n

Through boarding school, he is also reclaiming his heritage.<\/p>\n

He started dancing and learnt Wiradjuri.<\/p>\n

The Wiradjuri culture that empowered the Coes has also become his source of strength.<\/p>\n

“It showed me that this is what our old people fought for, not for us to be going around partying every weekend,” he says.<\/p>\n

“This is powerful. It’s our legacy.<\/p>\n

“We wasn’t handed grog and yarndi (cannabis).<\/p>\n

“We were handed our stories, our dances, our language.”\"Heywire<\/a><\/p>\n

The ABC’s Heywire competition<\/a> is open to all regional Australians aged between 16 and 22.<\/p>\n

The annual competition provides a platform for the younger generation, in pockets of Australia that rarely see the spotlight, to “tell it like it is”.<\/p>\n

If you are aged between 16 and 22 and would like to find out more about the ABC Heywire Competition, go to the ABC Heywire website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1967, the words of Oakland’s Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P Newton reverberated around the globe: “Rewriting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[289946,289947,64,63,192184,76,109361,44,289945],"class_list":{"0":"post-594040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-aboriginal-legal-service","9":"tag-aboriginal-tent-embassy","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-black-power","13":"tag-indigenous-rights","14":"tag-legal-aid","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-paul-coe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}