Jack Charles honoured with dance and song

A CROWD waving Aboriginal flags has lined St Kilda Road in Melbourne to send off Indigenous elder and storyteller Uncle Jack Charles after his state funeral.

The actor, musician, activist, and member of the stolen generations died at Royal Melbourne Hospital on 13 September after suffering a stroke. He was 79.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hamer Hall was at capacity for his memorial service, which featured didgeridoos, drag queens and dozens of songs and stories about Charles.

“Onya Jack, I knew you’d get a packed house for your last show mate,” said Professor Gary Foley.

One of the hosts of the event, Ari Maza Long, said his grandfather had started Australia’s first Aboriginal theatre company, Nindethana Theatre, with Charles in 1971.

“Today’s service will be one of prestige, stories, colour, song – and it wouldn’t be Uncle Jack without a little bit of cheekiness too,” he said.

Charles’ coffin was adorned with bright Indigenous designs, and sat onstage atop eucalyptus branches next to a small smoking fire.

His red scooter was parked nearby.

The two-and-a-half- hour service was filled with music, with Kutcha Edwards, Dan Sultan, Cash Savage, Uncle Bart Willoughby, Emma Donovan, James Henry and the Choir of Hard Knocks among the performers.

Proceedings were interrupted by drag queens making their way onstage, with Mora Money and Joo Cee performing Everybody’s Free.

Victorian minister Colin Brooks, who paid tribute on behalf of Premier Dan Andrews, said Charles was the first Indigenous elder to speak at the Yoorrook Justice Commission earlier in the year.

“It was only right that the first person to share his story was the finest storyteller of them all,” he said.

At the commission, Charles spoke about being taken from his mother as a four-month-old and growing up in the Salvation Army’s Box Hill Boys’ Home, where he was sexually abused and taunted.

“To learn of his journey as a survivor of the stolen generation is to learn of a man who faced bitter hardship from the day he was born,” Mr Brooks said.

Filmmaker Amiel Courtin-Wilson, who made a documentary about Charles, said the late 79-year-old would truly listen to people, whether they were family, friends, or drunk strangers on the street.

“He gave people space to be themselves and he met them on their terms, in a way that afforded them unique dignity,” he said.

The Boon Wurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta man’s career spanned decades and featured film roles in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978) and Blackfellas (1993).

His works also included touring his one-man show, Jack Charles v The Crown, based on his life, and appearing in the ABC TV series Cleverman and Preppers.

His family has given permission for the use of his name and images.

– BY LIZ HOBDAY/AAP