THE SQUIZ
One of Australia’s best-known Indigenous performers died yesterday in Melbourne at 79yo following a stroke. Family members of Uncle Jack Charles – a Boon Wurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta elder – farewelled him with a smoking ceremony and said they were “proud of everything he has achieved… Elder, actor, musician, potter, activist, mentor, a household name and voice loved by all.” PM Anthony Albanese said he “leaves a joyous legacy”, and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews described him as a “great Victorian”. “[He] took his own personal pain and the great trauma that he had suffered in his life to be a beacon for others and to campaign for justice,” he said.

I SENSE THERE’S AN EPIC BACKSTORY…
And you’d be right. Charles was a member of the Stolen Generations – he was taken from his mother at 4 months, abused in state care, and only learned his father’s name in 2021 while participating in SBS TV’s Who Do You Think You Are? Charles was incarcerated several times as a young man and developed a heroin addiction. But he turned his life around to co-found Australia’s first Indigenous theatre group, Nindethana. And he advocated for First Nations people right up until his death. That included mentoring prisoners and stepping up as the first witness in Victoria’s truth-telling commission, along with exposing problems with Stolen Generations reparation payments. Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney said her friend “offered a window for many Australians to see the enduring pain of survivors of the stolen generations and inspired people with his strength of character and resilience”.

AND HIS CAREER HIGHLIGHTS?
Despite never receiving formal training, Charles was a mainstay of Aussie screen and stage since 1970, appearing in films such as The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Bedevil, Blackfellas, Tom White and the Hollywood movie Pan with Hugh Jackman. More recently, he appeared in Wolf Creek and ABC TV series Cleverman and Preppers. He’s also supported Indigenous music stars, including Baker Boy and his track Survive. And as a gay man, he was an icon for many LGBTIQ+ people across the country. “He loved so many people, he had the biggest heart, he leaves behind a long, big legacy,” his niece Ajia Jacklyn Charles-Hamilton said.