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listen to ‘Indigenous activist Isabel Coe dies at 61’ on Audioboo

My name is Isabell Coe. I'm a Wiradjuri Ngunnawal woman. I'm a mother and I'm a grandmother. Well, when I'm in Canberra, that's the only place I stay. It's always at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Of course, it's a part of my traditional country. I've got a special obligation to keep the Aboriginal Tent Embassy going. And I'll be keeping it going until I die. Until our Aboriginal sovereignty is recognised in our country. This country is our birth right. Always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
... and let's get it right. We're protesting. We're not there to look pretty for the government. We're there protesting because this government won't do its job. It won't end this genocidal war against our people. We're dying. We're dying all over the country. We've been locked up in prisons. Men, women and children. It's the only place where we are a majority.

Isabell Coe, 25 November 2005

FUNERAL NOTICE - Isabell EDIE COE pdf Download

Isabell Coe - Lest we Forget

Isabell Edie Coe 1951 - 2012

Isabell Coe, a Wiradjuri woman, was actively involved in the establishment and maintenance of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, Land Rights, the Sovereignty movement and recognition of the ongoing Aboriginal genocide.

Isabell has been a Tent Embassy activist in Canberra from the beginning. Her husband, Billy Craigie was one of the founders in 1972.

She said after four decades the plight of Aboriginal people has not improved. "In fact everything's gotten worse for Aboriginal people," she said. But she argued at the 40th Tent Embassy commemoration and get-together in 2012 that it remains as relevant today as it did 40 years ago.