Chris Carter organized one of the most profound moments in PLWHA activism in this country: the first public coming out of a group of positive people on a stage at the third National AIDS Conference in Hobart in 1988. This courageous statement at a time when discrimination and ignorance towards positive people was rife was a turning point in the epidemic, signaling that now positive people wanted to have a voice in the decisions that were being made about them. Chris had already been involved in setting up the National People Living with AIDS Coalition and became a co-founder of People Living with AIDS Victoria established in 1988.

Chris helped organize the first public meeting about HIV at the Dental Hospital in Melbourne, became a member of the Victorian AIDS Action Committee which sprang from the meeting and played a vital role in building networks with politicians, in particular. During 1983 and 1984 he was an adviser to Don Chipp. Leader of the Australian Democrats, and was able to facilitate the first meeting of HIV community representatives with the then Federal Health Minister, Dr. Neal Blewett. In the mid-eighties he also played an important role in raising AIDS awareness through his editorship of the Melbourne Voice (later the Melbourne Star Observer).

The Australian Democrats have established an annual Chris Carter Award for an individual who has contributed in a major way towards community development and activism. We acknowledge Chris here today as a tenacious fighter for the visibility of positive people, a founder of PLWHA Victoria and one of the single, most important leaders of HIV/AIDS activism in our history.

Photo courtesy of Satellite Group Limited

Keith Harbour was one of the Legends of Aids who inspired the idea for this exhibition. He was the leader of a number of HIV organisations, President of VAC/ GMHC from 1987 – 1989, Convenor of Support program (1986), Convenor of PLWHA Vic (1989), Secretary of AFOA (1990) and it Vice President in 1991. Keith was a man of many colours, able to be diplomatic and professional in negotiations with health bureaucrats but equally impassioned and demanding when protesting about the inequalities meted out to positive people. He was a fierce advocate, particularly during his time as president of VAC/GMHC for the inclusion of positive people and their views in all of the work of the organisation.

Keith coined the phrase ”Talk with us, not about us” to help change the view he felt was held by some service providers that positive people should be passive recipients of services rather than actively involved in their care and support planning.

Keith was arrested at an ACT-Up demonstration on the steps of the Victorian parliament house in 1990 protesting about the lack of access to HIV drugs – but he was also later shown establishment approval for his efforts in fighting HIV/AIDS with the presentation of the Order of Australia medal by the governor of Victoria in a special ceremony convened at Keith’s bedside at Fairfield Hospital in the last weeks of his life. Keith was one of AIDS heroes – a person who has inspired many activists and supporters of the cause, and intelligent and articulate advocate for positive people who will be remembered for his contribution for many years to come.

Photo courtesy of Satellite Group Limited

Ian Goller was way ahead of his time. As an Immunologist studying in America in the early eighties he saw the beginning of the HIV epidemic there and reasoned from his scientific knowledge that the cause might be immunological and that it could be sexually transmitted by a blood-borne virus. He started to wear condoms during sex himself and even before he returned to Australia wrote to alert key doctors here about the possibility of an impending HIV epidemic.

Ian was greatly concerned about the welfare of the gay community and the importance of alerting others to the seriousness of the implications of HIV/AIDS. He became involved in the original Victorian AIDS Action Committee (later VAC/ GMHC) and in 1985 was employed by the Victoria Health Department to implement education health campaigns on HIV around the state. These programs for health workers, local councillors and police and other groups were pivotal in quelling the growing hysteria about the virus in the community in the eighties.

Concerned that gay men should be able to keep the fun in safe sex, he thought it was important that condoms were eroticised and wasn’t coy himself about the fact that he thought wearing condoms was an enjoyable fetish. Unfortunately the little prophylactics weren’t able to protect Ian from the virus which he has picked up many years earlier. Ian was a dedicated health professional who was highly committed to educating people about safe sex, and whose work had a lasting impact on the gay community.

Photo courtesy of Lee Visser

Until several years ago these words could be seen on a wall in a lane in Carlton, a reminder of the fight to free Ken McClelland who was gaoled in Pentridge prison in 1972 for resisting conscription.

Ken’s role in the battle against AIDS though was a considerable less conflictual and political one. He was the first Convenor of the North Area Support Group of the VAC/GMHC and spent many hours developing the systems and training necessary to skill up the members of his group to be able to care for the members of their PLWHA clients. North group was the first to have a client load in the mid 1980’s and Kens work with the group helped make it a model for other area groups to follow.

Member of the North Group in the eighties remembers Kens inclusive, consensual style, his ability to listen and carefully match volunteers with the tasks that reflected theirs skills and interests as the hallmarks of his leadership. He was highly committed to working with people at a “grass roots” level and to following principles of community development.

In the latter years of his life, he preferred to be known as Joe. His work with the Support programme as well as his warmth and charisma had endeared his to many in the HIV community. His legacy and name will not be forgotten.

Photo courtesy of the Satellite Group Limited

Peter Knight was a member of the Health Subcommittee of the ALSO Foundation which was first set up in 1983 to investigate the immerging phenomenon of HIV (at that staged called GRID – Gay Related Immune Deficiency). He helped organise the first meeting about HIV at the Royal Dental Hospital and was elected to the Victoria AIDS Action Committee when it was set up at the Laird Hotel meeting later that year. He took responsibility for investigating the care and support needs which might be required in this emerging epidemic.

As a frequent traveller to the USA, Peter knew the impact that HIV was already having in the gay community there. He recognised there would soon be a similar situation in Australia and set about establishing a proper system of volunteer training and support. He envisioned a system of “AIDS Mates” who would help meet the need for people who require care in their homes.

Peter used extensive personal networks, his involvement with ALSO and the gay community to recruit and huge number of volunteers to be ready to meet the care needs of PLWHA when they required it. He played a crucial role in establishing the support program within the VAC/GMHC and his legacy with the organisation is acknowledged with the name of their building, the Peter Knight Centre, in his honour. It is perhaps ironic that a man who worked so hard to establish a care system for others became one of the first recipients of his own work when he was provided with a care team to help him die at home. To long-time friend Phillip Carswell who visited his bedside not long before his death, Peter said with a warm smile on his face “The system works mate”

Photo courtesy of Satellite Group Limited

Peter Charlton was a co-founder of People Living with HIV/AIDS Victoria with Chris Carter. He worked hard to establish the constitution and rules for the organisation, always ensuring that maximum control must reside in the hands of the members themselves.

Peter lobbied the Health Department to get the first worker for the organisation funded and in late 1988 was appointed to the role, working in a tiny office in VAC/GMHC’s Johnston St offices. During his time in the role he sought to involve many positive people in the work of the organisation, worked on the development of a community centre for PLWHA, helped create the magazine Positive Living as a PLWHA Vic publication, and advocated strongly for increased access to AIDS treatments. He saw his principal role as informing the community, including positive people themselves, about the issues which surrounded HIV/AIDS and how to deal with them. He often used the phrase during this time, “Knowledge equals power”.

As Peter’s health deteriorated his activism took on a zeal that inspired his friends, co-workers and the authorities with whom he was advocating. As the first staff member at VAC/GMHC to die from HIV/AIDS, his loss had a profound effect on the staff of the organisation who had grown to love and respect him. The importance of his work and the crucial role which he played in establishing PLWHA Victoria is acknowledged here today.

Bill Hathaway had a major impact in increasing people’s awareness of HIV/AIDS issues. As a founding member of ACT Up Melbourne, he was involved in a number of activist protests around the threat to close Fairfield Hospital in 1991 and in actions to highlight drug access hold-ups including blocking the guards inside the House of Representatives so that two people could jump from the Public Gallery to the floor of the House as part of ACT Up’s D-Day protests in Canberra in 1992. The notorious replacement of Melbourne’s Floral Clock with an ACT Up symbol in June 1991 may well have had something to do with Bill’s mischievous, irreverent but certainly effective brand of activism!

Bill was employed as the HIV Education Officer with VAC/GMHC and set about trying to break down some of the barriers which had existed between positive and negative gay men particularly in their negotiations around sex. He produced an education campaign around positive sex, established a peer support course for HIV-positive people, began HIV Plus, a radio program on 3CR radio, and conducted a number of forums and retreats for positive people.

Bill was happy to do media work as an “out” positive person at a time when only a few people were prepared to be open about their status. He appeared in a video called Fair Treatment and did numerous interviews for the press including a cover feature story on his role in activism for OutRage magazine. Bill had incredible energy, charisma and commitment to fighting for the rights of people with HIV/AIDS.

Les Taylor was one of the founders of People Living with HIV/AIDS Victoria. He was one of the people who helped draw up our constitution, one of the major participants in debates about our formation and an early convenor of the program. He was later Vice-President of VAC/GMHC and it was he and President Keith Harbour who made a formidable negotiating team to the Health Department to secure funding for the Positive Living Centre in St Kilda.

Les’ negotiating skills were invaluable to PLWHA Vic and to VAC/GMHC – they were skills honed through years of involvement with the hospital employees union and the union movement generally – and his ability to put up a good argument to authorities benefited positive people in this state significantly. His involvement with the AZT taskforce in 1988 helped to convince the state government to provide the drug to a much wider group than was originally envisaged. His articulate performance on the TV show “Good Morning Australia” in 1987 and his numerous media interviews around AZT helped to publicise the drug access issue and to achieve the desired result.

Les Taylor was a man of great courage. To appear on national TV or in the media at that time of the epidemic was an extremely brave thing to do in a climate then of fear and prejudice around AIDS. His pioneering work in AIDS activism and the enduring legacy of the Positive Living Centre which he was so instrumental in making happen are achievements for which we owe Les a great debt of gratitude.

Deborah Gillies was a co-founder of Positive Women with Bev Greet in July 1988. Being open about being HIV-positive was hard enough for anybody at this time but it was particularly difficult for women because of their relative invisibility in the epidemic to that time and the lack of peer support or understanding of their specific issues and needs. Deborah and Bev set about the task of finding other positive women, establishing their organisation and eventually getting funding for a worker.

In 1989 Deborah was employed by PLWHA Vic on a project to examine the need for a community centre for PLWHA. This was followed by work on a project, auspiced by VAC/GMHC but managed by the committee of Positive Women Victoria which was to produce a much-acclaimed booklet and video, Positive Women: Women with HIV and AIDS Speak Out.

Deborah was particularly keen to reach out to isolated positive women to offer them peer support and she saw this as the main purpose of her work and the resources she produced with Positive Women Victoria. She was an inspiration to many positive women to become involved in the organisation and her intelligence and geniality made her a popular figure with many in the broader HIV community. She is sadly missed but her memory and her legacy live on.

Frank Shinnick was a tenacious fighter for positive people during his years as the representative for People Living with HIV/AIDS Victoria on the VAC/GMHC Board between 1991 and 1993. Using his skills learnt as a former company director, Frank was not averse to thumping the table and demanding a better deal for resources for PLWHA. His efforts were usually successful and in his time on the committee of PLWHA Victoria he helped the organisation grow in size and stature to be the primary advocacy organisation for positive people in this state.

Frank was also very involved in the work of the Positive Living Centre, the Alfred Hospital HIV Care committee and the Catholic AIDS Ministry. His amiable and gentle nature (except when roused at a Board meeting!) made him a popular and much loved figure in the HIV community.

Vale, Frank Shinnick! We miss you, mate.

Photo courtesy of Maurice Shinnick