 Coe was the first Aboriginal scholar at Cowra High School to study for the Higher School Certificate and to be elected a prefect.Coe was active in campaigns around the 1967 referendum and the establishment in 1972 of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, working with Pearl Gibbs, Chicka Dixon and Billy Craigie in the fight for basic human rights and justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.Coe and a group of other activists including Isobel Coe, Gary Williams, Gary Foley and Tony Coorey also founded the Aboriginal Legal Service in 1970, the first free legal assistance service in Australia.