Jack Charles

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Jack Charles (actor)
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For other people named Jack Charles, see Jack Charles (disambiguation).

Jack Charles
Aboriginal elder
Years active1970–2022

Jack Charles (5 September 1943 – 13 September 2022), also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous theatre in Australia, co-founding Nindethana Theatre with Bob Maza in Melbourne in 1971. His film credits include the Australian film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), among others, and more recently appeared in TV series Cleverman (2016) and Preppers (2021).

He spent many decades in and out of prison and as a

LGBTQI+
Indigenous youth.

Among other awards and honours, he was Victorian Senior Australian of the Year in 2015, and Male Elder of the Year in the 2022 National NAIDOC Week Awards.

Early life

Jack Charles was born on 5 September 1943 at the

Victoria in 1881.[4]

Charles was a victim of the Australian Government's forced assimilation program which took him from his mother as an infant, and which produced what is known as the Stolen Generations.[5] He tells how his mother sneaked out of the Royal Women's Hospital and took him to a "blakfella camp" near Shepparton and Mooroopna (Daish's Paddock[6][7]), but the authorities came and took him when he was four months old.[8]

After being moved to the

Salvation Army Boys' Home at Box Hill, suburban Melbourne, where he was the only Aboriginal child, and suffered sexual[9] and physical abuse "far worse than anything [he] later experienced in prison".[5] He was not told that he was Aboriginal, and thought he was an orphan until he later discovered the existence of his still living mother.[10] At the age of 14, he was taken into the care of a foster mother, Mrs Murphy, who treated him well, but was taken away again at the age of 17, after he dipped into his pay packet to pay for a trip to see his mother, whom he had heard was in Swan Hill (although he did not get to see her that time) and had an altercation with Mrs Murphy. He connected with some other siblings when still a teenager, and later learned more about his birth family and ancestors.[8]

Acting career

Namila Benson, Jack Charles and Baker Boy at Night With Uncle Jack at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, November 2021

Theatre

In 1970, Charles started his acting career in theatre.

African-American playwright Lorraine Hansberry.[3] The director of the New Theatre, Dot Thompson, cast Charles in South African playwright Athol Fugard's The Blood Knot,[12] which was performed in 1970.[13] This was followed by a non-Aboriginal role in Rod Milgate's A Refined Look at Existence.[12]: 115  He later said that the New Theatre, with whom he spent seven years, was his NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art), as well as like family to him.[14]

Charles was involved in establishing

The Pram Factory in Melbourne, Australia's first Indigenous theatre group. Their first hit play, in 1972, was called Jack Charles is Up and Fighting,[15] and included music composed by him.[16]: 26  He is often referred to as "the grandfather of Indigenous theatre" because of this early work.[17][14][18][8] He also helped to develop the National Black Theatre in Redfern, Sydney.[19]

In August 1972, Charles played a character based on his own,

buggery and bastardy in the Box Hill Boys' Home", and also referring to the fact that he was fatherless.[23]

In 1974, Charles played

Old Tote Theatre production of Michael Boddy's Cradle of Hercules, which was presented at the Sydney Opera House as part of its opening season. Also in the cast was a young David Gulpilil.[12]
: 116 

His stage work includes

Black Swan Theatre Company in Perth, Western Australia.[24]

In 2010,

APACA.[30]

In 2012, Charles performed in the Sydney Festival production I am Eora.[31]

In August 2014, Charles performed in Ilbijerri Theatre and

Belvoir Theatre's Coranderrk at Northcote Town Hall.[14]

Film and TV

In 1972, Charles auditioned for the role of the

Australian Indigenous title character in the television show Boney but was declined. The job went to New Zealand-born white actor James Laurenson, who wore brown face make-up for the role.[32] It was partly due to this disappointment, that the white establishment was not yet ready to accept Aboriginal actors in major roles, that led to his co-founding of Nindethana and the development of black theatre for Indigenous people.[19]

Charles was the subject of

ATOM Awards; and the Grand Jury Prize at the FIFO International Documentary Film Festival in 2010.[35] The film was re-screened at MIFF in 2017, with Charles on the night crediting the film with having saved his life. The film brought affection from strangers who had seen the film, and it resuscitated his career as an actor.[27][3]

He played Chief Great Little Panther in Joe Wright's 2015 fantasy film Pan.[36]

Charles appeared in several episodes of the sketch comedy show, Black Comedy, between 2014 and 2020, his final role being that of a judge.[37]

In 2016, Charles appeared in two episodes of the television horror drama series Wolf Creek. Also in 2016, he appeared in the television drama series Cleverman. Charles appeared in the 2021 television comedy series Preppers.[10]

Radio

Charles was interviewed on

ABC Radio many times over the years, by Larissa Behrendt, Daniel Browning,[3] Richard Fidler on Conversations,[38]
among others.

Addiction and jail

For a large part of his life, Charles was a petty thief and

heroin addict. He was jailed 22 times,[39] saying later that he gave up heroin at the age of 60, and had not been in jail since 2009. He saw his robberies as "rent collection" for stolen Aboriginal land, and attributes his and many other Aboriginal people's substance abuse to the trauma of dispossession and being removed from his family.[5] He gave up heroin after two years on methadone as part of the Marumali prison program, which was delivered by Aunty Lorraine Peeters and her daughter Shaan. He wanted to become completely clean by the end of a documentary film that was being made about him (Bastardy), which took longer than expected because of being on methadone for two years, eventually being released in 2008.[26]

Other activities and later life

He developed an interest in

meditative.[40]

Charles received a Christian education from the Salvation Army, and continued to observe Christian values into his 70s, when he told Geraldine Doogue in 2017:

I've employed my Aboriginality as my religion now ... instead of God, I've found that the Godhead is within me ... I'm solely directed towards making an accommodation between Black and White.[39]

He told

Kulin land and its people, that had kept him alive through his darkest and riskiest moments in his life. He said that he had technically been dead medically before, and had also attempted suicide once.[19]

Charles gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Adelaide and Melbourne (2013–2017).[19]

In later life he became somewhat of a role model for young Indigenous men fighting institutionalised racism, and lacking a

expunge criminal records after a period time, which brought about a change in the law enabling him to work in the state's prisons. The story of his efforts was told in the show Jack Charles v The Crown (2010).[3]

As a

LGBTQI people.[2][43] In his work with youth in youth detention centres and in speaking about other young queer Indigenous people, he encouraged everyone to be true to themselves.[42]

In October 2016, shortly after being named Victorian Senior Australian of the Year, he was refused a taxi unless he paid the fare in advance.[41] This was not the first time he had been met with this type of refusal, which he put down to racism, as the taxi driver had been prepared to take his [white] friend in the front seat until he saw Charles getting in the back. The incident made headlines in Australia[44] When he had been refused twice in three days in 2015, it was reported in the international press[45][46] as well as in Australia.[47]

Jack Charles and Archie Roach at "A Night with Uncle Jack", 2019

In 2017, Charles gave a talk about his passion for prison mentoring at

TEDx in Sydney, and his work with Uncle Archie Roach at the Archie Roach Foundation, followed by a performance of Roach's song "We Won't Cry" by the two of them.[41] The two men worked in prisons mentoring Aboriginal prisoners through Roach's foundation.[27]

In 2019, Charles embarked on a speaking tour in a series of events called A Night with Jack Charles, in which he talked about his life as a gay Indigenous man,[42] describing it later as "the story of a reformed and rehabilitated old coot that [the audience] feel they know so well. They've seen me at my worst, read about me at my worst, and now they see me at my best."[26]

Charles' memoir, authored by Namila Benson, Jack Charles: Born-Again Blakfella,[48] was published on 18 August 2020 by Penguin.[49] The memoir was shortlisted by the Australian Book Industry Awards for the 2020 Biography Book of the Year.[50]

In April 2021, Charles was the first Aboriginal elder to speak at the Victorian truth-telling commission, the

start of British colonisation in Victoria. Its findings, scheduled to be reported by June 2024, will inform Victoria's Treaty negotiations.[6]

Death and legacy

In later life, Charles was often referred to as Uncle Jack or Uncle Jack Charles, a

Aboriginal Australian elder.[51][5][52] He is remembered as "the grandfather of Indigenous theatre" because of this early work.[17]

Charles died from a

Adam Briggs, actor Meyne Wyatt, and Aboriginal senator Lidia Thorpe tweeting their respects,[54] and Albanese giving an oral tribute, saying that he left a "joyous legacy" and that Australia had "lost a legend of Australian theatre, film and creative arts".[51][57]

There was a

remand centres and youth justice centres across Victoria.[59] Hundreds of mourners attended, and crowds gathered outside. Many speakers described Charles' legacy as giving back to the community, after enduring an extraordinarily hard life. Premier Daniel Andrews was unable to attend owing to the flood emergency, with Acting Aboriginal Affairs Minister Colin Brooks addressing the funeral instead. Others to address the funeral included theatre director Rachael Maza and film director Amiel Courtin-Wilson, both friends of Charles. There were stage performances inside and dancers outside.[58]

Recognition, awards and honours

Charles was the subject of

Bastardy.[33]

A photograph of Charles taken by in

National Portrait Gallery of Australia.[60] It won the National Photographic Portrait Prize in 2012. McNicol had met Charles in the early 1970s and created several portraits of him over the years.[61]

A portrait of Charles by

People's Choice Award winner in the 2017 Archibald Prize.[62]

Awards and honours include:

Birth family and personal life

Charles' five times great-grandfather was

flu epidemics hit the local Aboriginal communities.[8]

Charles met his sisters, Esmae and Eva Jo Charles, as a teenager, when he was living with his foster mother, and they visited him in prison in the 1980s. They managed to find another sister, Christine Zenip Charles, whose foster mother was one of the few who let her keep her Aboriginal name on her birth certificate. He met his mother in Swan Hill when he was 19. By August 2021, Esmae and Eva Jo had died, and there were six siblings still missing.[8]

He only found out who his father was in 2021, when participating in an episode of the

SBS Television program Who Do You Think You Are? Hilton Hamilton Walsh was a Wiradjuri man, also known as an Indigenous mentor.[6]

Charles had a relationship with Jack Huston, a "De La Salle College boy", whom he met at the New Theatre in the 1970s, for five years.[26] He credits Jack, who also helped him and Maza and John Smythe establish Nindethana, with helping him to develop an appreciation for ballet, opera and musicals. However, Charles said later:[8]

Our relationship was doomed because I never knew what love was. I'd never been held as a child and it felt strange to be held by a man. Shortly after, I got into drugs. I see Jack occasionally and always regret that it didn't work out.

Since that early relationship, he chose to remain single (in his words "a loner").[8]

Selected filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1978 The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith Harry Edwards [10]
1993 Bedevil Rick [10]
1993 Blackfellas Carey [10]
2004 Tom White Harry [10]
2008 Bastardy Self Documentary; filmed over
6 years of his life[27][33]
2013 Mystery Road "Old Boy" [66]
2014 The Gods of Wheat Street Old Uncle TV series;
5 episodes
2015 Pan Chief [10]
2016 Wolf Creek Uncle Paddy TV series;
2 episodes[10]
2016–
2017 		Cleverman Uncle Jimmy TV series;
3 episodes[10]
2017 Fancy Boy TV series
2018 Grace Beside Me Uncle Lefty TV series;
1 episode ("Catch Your Death")
2019 True History of the Kelly Gang Waiter [67]
2021 Back to the Outback Frilled-Neck Lizard Voice
2021 Preppers Monty TV series;
6 episodes[10]

Publications

  • Jack Charles: Born-Again Blakfella (Penguin Books, 2020)[48]

Footnotes

  1. ^ The script of the play Bastardy was published in 1982.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b Rachael, Maza (14 September 2022). "Uncle Jack Charles' generosity and wit leave a lasting legacy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Butler, Dan (13 September 2022). "Beloved Elder Uncle Jack Charles passes away". NITV. Archived from the original on 14 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Browning, Daniel (14 September 2022). "'I called him Uncle': Remembering iconic theatre great Uncle Jack Charles". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  4. ^ Kaye, Amanda (8 June 2017). "TEDxSydney 2017 Speakers—Uncle Jack Charles". Tedx. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e "'I'd rob to collect rent for stolen Aboriginal land'". BBC News. 30 September 2019. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e Australian Associated Press (26 April 2022). "Uncle Jack Charles makes history as first Indigenous elder to speak at Victorian truth-telling commission". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  7. ^ "NAIDOC Male Elder Of The Year: Uncle Jack Charles" (Audio, around 5 mins in.). ABC (Interview). Interviewed by Behrendt, Larissa. 24 July 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Rocca, Jane (21 August 2021). "Uncle Jack Charles: 'Knowing I come from a long line of resilient women makes me proud'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  9. ^ Anna Krien, Anna (October 2010). "Blanche's Boy". The Monthly (61). Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
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  39. ^ a b "The Return of Jack Charles". ABC Compass. 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  40. ^ "Art Works: Uncle Jack Charles" (Video). ABC Education. Presented by Namila Benson; Date of broadcast: 5 May 2021. 13 September 2022. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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  49. ^ "Jack Charles Born-again Blakfella". Pengin Publishing. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
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  56. ^ Turnbull, Tiffanie (13 September 2022). "Uncle Jack Charles: Revered Aboriginal actor and elder dies aged 79". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
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  60. ^ "Jack Charles, b. 1943". National Portrait Gallery people. 22 August 2022. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  61. ^ "Jack Charles, 2011". National Portrait Gallery collection. 22 August 2022. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  62. Art Gallery of NSW. Archived
    from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  63. ^ a b c "Uncle Jack Charles, Red Ochre Award 2019". Australia Council for the Arts. 30 July 2021. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  64. ^ Puvanenthiran, Bhakthi (28 April 2014). "Jack Charles win a first at Green Room awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 25 January 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  65. ^ "Uncle Jack Charles honoured with Red Ochre Award". The Stage Show. ABC Radio National. 28 May 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  66. ^ Gallagher, Alex (13 September 2022). "Uncle Jack Charles, Indigenous actor, musician, activist and senior Elder, has died aged 79". NME. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
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External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jack_Charles&oldid=1216532663"