NAIDOC Week 2012 Panel Discussion: Tent Embassy

Paul Coe
Paul Coe, a Wiradjuri man, grew up in Cowra, west of Sydney. He moved to Sydney in the late 1960s and became involved with Redfern community development projects such as the All Blacks football team. In May 1970 Paul was one of the organisers of a march down George Street in Sydney to the offices of the Vestey Company, the leaseholders of the Wave Hill station where stockmen had gone 'on strike’ initially over poor pay and conditions, but increasingly over land. Coe gave a stirring speech supporting the new call for 'land rights’. Two years later Paul Coe was at the forefront of the Tent Embassy protests outside Parliament House in Canberra. He was one of the initiators of the Aboriginal Legal Service, which opened its doors in 1971. In 1979 Paul Coe took a case to the High Court of Australia challenging British sovereignty. He lost but his argument was another step in the direction of what became known as the Mabo judgement when rights were recognised. Paul Coe continues to bring his legal training to bear in his work advocating for Indigenous Australians.

Fiona Foley
Fiona Foley is a Brisbane-based artist and exhibits regularly in Australia and internationally. She has had recent solo exhibitions at Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane and Niagara Galleries, Melbourne.

In 2009–10 The University of Queensland Art Museum and Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art co-curated a survey exhibition of Fiona Foley’s work titled Forbidden. The exhibition traversed photography, sculpture, moving image, etching and installations. During 2011 Foley was appointed an Adjunct Professor with the University of Queensland. Her essay titled, ‘When the Circus Came to Town’ was published in the November issue of Art Monthly.