Aboriginal lawyer and activist Paul Coe, who helped create the first Aboriginal Legal Service and championed the fight for land rights, has died aged 76.

The beloved community figure has been remembered as a giant of the land rights movement who “changed the lives of Aboriginal people across the nation”.

His family have described him as a “Wiradjuri warrior” who dedicated his life to upholding his people’s ways – overcoming discrimination to blaze a trail for Aboriginal justice, land rights and self-determination

NSW Aboriginal Land Council chairperson Raymond Kelly said Coe was an “incredible fighter” who would be remembered for generations.

“He has changed the lives of Aboriginal people across the nation … pointing out uncomfortable truths about police brutality and institutional racism,” he said.

The chairperson of the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service, Keith Morgan, paid tribute to a “towering figure in the fight for Aboriginal justice”.

“An inspiration and a fearless leader, Paul was a well-respected Aboriginal man that people looked up to as an uncompromising advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights,” Morgan said.

“He leaves a legacy at the ALS that is unquantifiable.”

In a statement, his children vowed to honour the legacy of the beloved father, grandfather, brother and uncle.

“This is a loss we will all feel so deeply,” they said.

“Rest in Power, Dad.

“Yindyamarra.”

Coe was born in 1949 at Erambie Mission in Cowra in central west New South Wales, at a time when Indigenous people were subjected to strict laws that controlled every aspect of their lives.

He was the first Aboriginal student at Cowra high school to pass the HSC and be elected prefect, going on to become one of the first Aboriginal people to study law at the University of New South Wales.

As the civil rights movement swept the US in the 1960s and 70s, Coe was central to developing the Australian arm of the Black Power movement from Sydney’s Aboriginal heartland in Redfern.

He and other activists created a database to demonstrate the scale of “racist actions by police”, fighting back through protest, advocacy and legal avenues – a movement which led to the creation of the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service.

Coe was also part of the state’s first Aboriginal Land Council, throwing his support behind the Gurindji people’s fight against the Vestey Company in the Northern Territory (better known as the Wave Hill walk-off, which inspired the protest anthem, From Little Things Big Things Grow).

In 1979, Coe launched legal action against the commonwealth in the high court, arguing for the recognition of Aboriginal people as the prior inhabitants of Australia before European colonisation. Though unsuccessful, the case helped lay the foundation for the landmark 1992 Mabo judgment that overturned the concept of terra nullius and paved the way for native title legislation.

Coe was named one of the inaugural winners of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council’s (NSWALC) chairperson’s award in 2017. In his acceptance speech, he paid homage to other staunch land rights activists – including his parents, Les and Agnes – from whom he drew wisdom and strength.