In 2004, the WA AIDS Council applied to Lotterywest for a grant to enable a 20 year anniversary community history to be written about the unique Western Australian response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the origins and development of the WA AIDS Council over two completely different decades and the amazing contributions of numerous individuals.

The history project, as it became known, complemented another arts-based retrospective exhibition entitled ‘Reflection, Remembrance and Celebration’ funded by ArtsWA and held in December 2005. The exhibition was curated by Jo Darbyshire and featured four talented Western Australian artists, Mathew Jackson, Zabia Chmielewski, Eva Fernandez and James Berlyn.

Chloe Britton, a local historian and former coordinator of the Freedom Centre was commissioned to write the WA AIDS Council history, interviewing many people and facilitating community forums. Lauren Wilhelm produced a brilliant book design and ‘Being+: Reflections on 21 Years of the WA AIDS Council’ was finally launched in December 2006. It is a valuable record and reminder of the changing social, cultural and political milieu in which the Council continues to operate and how it has adapted to meet new circumstances

Please click onto each chapter to read our remarkable story. Hard copies of ‘Being+: Reflections on 21 years of the WA AIDS Council’ are available from the Council. Contact us to order a copy.

+ Being Positive Introduction

The WA AIDS Council (WAAC) was initially established in May 1985. It was the recommendation of the Gay Health Sub-Committee of the well established Perth group CAMP – Campaign Against Moral Persecution. The members of CAMP were gay men and lesbians who had been working to change homophobic laws and values in Western Australia. Decriminalising homosexuality was their main agenda until AIDS changed their immediate priorities. Download PDF

+ Fear - Chapter One

As we move into a third decade of HIV and AIDS in Australia, progress is being made around the world to combat the virus and its pandemic spread. New treatments and therapies are making life easier for people in Australia who are infected by the virus. Changing attitudes to behaviours that are constantly being redefined in public arenas as acceptable and unacceptable mean new challenges for the AIDS Councils of Australia. Download PDF

+ Sex - Chapter Two

+ Blood - Chapter Three

Thirty percent of haemophiliacs who received blood products through the blood supply between 1980 and 1984 received contaminated blood and acquired HIV. News coverage of the new infections through the blood supply panicked people preparing for any kind of medical intervention. As numbers of haemophiliacs who had been infected were so high, many people who were scheduled to received essential treatments were afraid to receive blood until they could be sure that the blood supply was clean. Download PDF

+ Drugs - Chapter Four

+ Money - Chapter Five

The initial, active response to HIV and AIDS in Western Australia was powered by individual and collective will rather than any structured funding. As gay community networks across the world began sharing stories of the mystery disease, Perth people mobilised using existing community groups to build a force of activists, volunteers, benefactors and leaders. WAAC has always depended on community support to provide its services. Download PDF

+ Life - Chapter Six

Peer support groups for HIV positive people have operated under many different names, some for specific communities, some general, some sponsored by WAAC and some separate. Groups for gay men, heterosexual men, women, statewide and interstate groups have formed part of the HIV/AIDS community. Download PDF

+ Guts - Chapter 7

"WAAC has consistently faced opposition from the general community, but also internal conflict over the services it does and does not provide. Unafraid of criticisms, WAAC’s constant reflection and communication with community members keeps the conflict constructive, and where there are opportunities for change, WAAC has been willing to give it a go". SALLY ROWELL, 2005. Download PDF

+ Chapter 8 Hope

The Council has grown, changing to fit the different needs of its community. That community has been redefined along the way. In the original organisational structure of the Council, the board was comprised of employees, health professionals and ‘community’ members. Download PDF