Bastardy

Born in 1943 Jack Charles was well and truly a child of the Stolen Generations and spent many of his formative years in the boy’s homes of Melbourne which he took on with his usual laconic outlook. “It was alright by me – I was happy to assimilate. The only trouble was I wasn’t ever going to fit in. I’m fucking brown mate.” In 1971 he founded the first Aboriginal theatre company Nindethana and has performed with the cream of Australia’s actors and directors including Geoffrey Rush, Neil Armfield, John Romeril and Tracey Moffat. His work has spanned feature films, TV series and hundreds of plays including The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Bedevil, Ben Hall, The Marriage of Figaro and the 1972 Bastardy, the play about the life of Jack Charles, which the film title comes from. Jack was awarded the prestigious Tudawali Award at the Message Sticks Festival in 2009, honouring his lifetime contribution to Indigenous media.